Horror Collection: Remastered
by arcanicEmbers
Summary: Encountering a serial killer once is chance; twice a coincidence. So what does that make over a dozen times? Fayora Christoph doesn't know why she meets who she does- serial killers who should not exist, who she had only ever seen about in books or movies. She doesn't know how they keep finding her. All she knows is that they want her dead, and she refuses to let that happen.
1. Charley Horse

Chapter One: Charley Horse

Fayora Christoph had her forehead pressed against the cool glass of the car, watching as the scenery flew past, the giant trees looming over the car she shared with her parents. The girl was fifteen, fresh out of school for Spring Break, and bored out of her mind. They were going on a camping trip, and while she didn't mind it too terribly, she hated the fact that they had opted for the 'scenic' route. The campsite was only an hour away by freeway, but they had been driving all day and she was getting tired of it.

"Faye, sweetie," her mother's cheerful voice drifted from the front. She peeled her face away from the window to look at her. The woman was giving her the _look_ and eyeing her half full water bottle. "Really, at least finish one bottle of water. I know you'd rather we got you a soda, but with all the running you were doing, water is better for you."

"I know. You don't have to keep reminding me." She picked up the bottle and took a small sip to appease her mother, who went back to discussing time off and when they needed to be back by with her father.

The last softball game before the break had been that same day, and they'd left right after. She was still in her uniform, minus the constricting green socks that proudly displayed her school colors. Of course, she'd be well hydrated if her mom would just let her get a soda or something good instead of something so… Tasteless.

At the rate they were going, they weren't even going to get to the place that night. What was the point of a camping trip if they were spending the first night elsewhere, anyway?

"Do we have a plan for sleeping tonight? I'm not getting the car unloaded in the middle of the night, and I don't think you guys want to either."

"We're going to get there soon, Fayora." Her dad refused to use her nickname, and she had long since grown used it. "We're stopping at a nice little town for the night. Better to be well rested for our first day out."

She sighed and went back to leaning against the window, staring out at everything, and not absorbing any of it.

At least, not until the sign welcoming them to the town appeared. She pulled away and twisted around to watch it fade into the distance, to make sure that she'd ready it right.

"Welcome to Springwood, huh?" She couldn't help a small grin. She'd always been a horror buff, and the idea of staying in Springwood thrilled the part of her that loved to watch horror on her laptop at three in the morning, with a blanket over her head to block out the light. She'd have to see if B wanted to rewatch the Nightmare series later.

That thrill increased as they turned onto a street and she caught sight of the street sign. Elm Street, huh? That gave her a little chill. Heh, maybe there was a chance she'd meet even Freddy.

Probably not. Freddy Krueger was a fictional monster in a fictional world. He wouldn't be able to do anything to hurt her, and that was the only reason she even entertained the thought. The chill only got worse as they pulled into a bed and breakfast in a house that had a very familiar set of numbers. Fourteen Twenty-Eight.

For a fictional story, she was… actually beginning to get the creeps. She shook it off, laughing at her own silliness. B would make fun of her forever if the other girl knew that Faye was getting spooked that easily. And plus, if she got too freaked out, all she had to do was bring a mirror into bed with her. It had worked well enough for Alice, hadn't it? What was that rhyme she used?

 _Now I lay me down to sleep, master of dreams my soul to keep. In the reflection of my mind's eye…_

"Faye, please." Her mother opened the car door for her. "We need you to carry your stuff in too, you know. Not all of it, just a couple of changes of clothes and the essentials."

She grabbed her backpack and nodded, looping one strap around her arm and looking up at the house. It even resembled the place from the movie. Faye took out her phone and got a picture of it to show off to her friends when she got back home. This was going to be great.

When they walked in, they went were greeted by an old woman who Faye thought looked very much grandmotherly. She'd never really gotten to know her grandparents. The two from her dad's side had passed away when she was young, and her mom refused to talk about her own. This place was really starting to grow on her.

"You're Mr. and Mrs. Christoph, right? And this must be Fayora-"

"Ah, Faye, please." She could sense her dad opening his mouth to scold her for interrupting, but the old woman just smiled and nodded.

"Faye, then. Well, you three will be staying in a couple of rooms upstairs, all right? There's no one else here tonight, but we'll have a nice dinner, and then you can get to rest. It's probably been a long day, huh?"

Their dinner was a very rich chicken soup that settled heavily in her stomach. The game and the drive were really starting to catch up to her, and between that and her very full stomach, she was more than ready for bed. Her parents were making idle chit chat, and she was starting to doze at the table.

The old woman reached over and lightly touched her arm when she noticed. "Why don't you head on upstairs, dear? It's late, and you look tired. Your room is the first door on the left upstairs, all right?"

"Yes ma'am." She grabbed her bag, bid her parents goodnight, and trudged up the stairs. Her legs had stiffened from the long car ride and they screamed at her as she worked them. Oh, she was going to get some good sleep. The only thing that could have relaxed her more was a hot shower, but it was just a bit too late for that. Instead, she changed out of her uniform and into some cuddly pajamas.

The bed was soft, the sheets were cool, and somehow… She couldn't get to sleep. As sluggish as her body was, her thoughts were racing. The earlier fears that had seemed so silly in the daylight were bothering her much more now that the lights were off and she was alone. She tried to laugh it off, but… It wasn't so easy.

The girl retrieved her phone and shot a message to B. If anybody would be awake to talk her out of this, it was her. The message stuck on 'sending' and when it didn't go through after a minute, she dropped the phone on her bed and sighed. It was too late and she was too tired for this.

Sleep… Still wouldn't come. She could remedy that, though. The girl got out of bed and went for her backpack, digging around until she found a small tin. She popped the top off and took a deep sniff, the soothing lavender and honey of the tea bag seeping into her nose. This would definitely help.

She walked down stairs slowly, so as not to wake anybody up. Save for the soft squeaking of the steps under her feet, she made no noise, although she _did_ hear something… Maybe the television? If the old woman had put something on, that might be it.

As she got closer to the foot of the stairs, she realized the sound was not coming from inside the house, but outside. And as she stepped to the window to push aside the curtain, she almost felt her heart stop. There on the front lawn were a handful of children who were all dressed in white. A couple were throwing a ball, and three more were playing jump rope. As the girl in the middle jumped, the chant she had heard started over.

" _One, Two, Freddy's coming for you_

 _Three, Four, better lock your door_

 _Five, Six, grab your crucifix_

 _Seven, Eight, better stay up late_

 _Nine, Ten-"_

"Never sleep again?" She stepped away from the window and swallowed nervously. It had to be a tourist thing, right? But what kind of parents would let their kids run around in the middle of the night singing tunes from old horror movies, even for tourists? The girl wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back, away from the window. She had never gone to sleep, so it couldn't be- Freddy wasn't real! Freddy wasn't-

"If I'm not real," a gruff voice whispered in her ear, "then why are you afraid of me?"

As an avid consumer of horror movies, Faye was accustomed to yelling when characters did something stupid. But no amount of sitting and watching could prepare her for the freezing terror that seized her muscles when she heard that voice. Even her breathing caught and she-

No! She was not going to do this! She was not _about_ to die just because she had frozen.

She ran, forcing her tired muscles to work. Away. She had to get away. But which way? Back upstairs? No, she'd be trapped. Not downstairs either. She threw herself at the front door, grabbing the knob and twisting. Some part of her expected it to be locked, so when she fell through easily and landed hard on her side, it caught her off guard.

Where could she go? It didn't matter. It was a dream, so all she had to do was get away. She pushed herself to her feet and took off, her bare feet pounding against the rough pavement. The gravel and rocks cut her feet, but she hardly felt it.

All that mattered was getting away. Keep moving until she could wake up. That was all she had to do, right? Keep moving, don't stop and-

She stepped off the road into grass, and vines wrapped around her legs and yanked them out from under her. She scrabbled to dig her fingers into the dirt, but it was packed too tightly to get any purchase. The vines dragged her back to the house, and she managed to grab onto the railing of the stairway. She tightened her grip on it and the vines snapped taut, pulling hard on her ankle.

The vines tightened, and she tried to hold on, but her hands slipped and she was dragged through the door.

It let go of her, and she staged to her feet, grabbing for the door knob. This time, it _was_ locked. The girl brought her fist down hard against the wood, but it did nothing.

She turned around to look at the place, and pressed herself against the wall when she realized that it looked different. Old, worn, as if nobody had seen the inside of it in years. The windows were boarded up, and she could smell something foul that made her gag.

"Calm down, Faye." She whispered to herself. The sound of her own voice helped her gather her nerves a bit, and her legs became a little bit less shaky. Maybe… Maybe she could wake herself up. She took a deep breath and began to slowly walk up the stairs. She couldn't panic; panic was the enemy. She had to stay calm. After all, he fed on _fear._ So maybe if she stated calm, she'd be okay. Right?

An eerie screeching sound, metal on metal, filled her ears. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere just behind her. She didn't want to turn around, she wanted to start running again. It was… as if something compelled her to. She made a promise to herself that she'd never insult a horror movie character if she got out of this.

She turned around and- … There was nothing there. The dream demon was nowhere to be found. Yet… She _was_ on a catwalk, and red light filtered through the air and felt almost like it was choking her. She turned back ready to try the door again.

There he was. Freddy Krueger himself, clawed fingers clicking against the rails of the walkway. The movies didn't do the man- no, the _monster_ justice. The tattered fedora on his head was tilted to cover the upper part of his face, and he the half-burned lips were curled into a cruel grin full of broken yellow teeth. His skin was charred, spots of it oozing a foul thick green liquid what made what she had smelled before seem pleasant. The red and green sweater had tattered edges, and holes that revealed even more burned flesh.

Her eyes went to the last thing, the final trademark that anybody who knew about Freddy would know was his and his alone. The glove on his right hand, four blades glinting in the light.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He stalked forward, running the blades along the metal bar. "Looks like this little piggy came to the wrong pen. What should we do about that?" His grin widened. "I have the _perfect_ idea."

The floor dropped out from under her, and she screamed and scrabbled to grab onto something, anything. There was nothing to grab, and gravity yanked her down, down, down against and onto a hard floor. The impact squeezed the air from her lungs, and for a terrifying few seconds she couldn't take in anymore. It felt like an entire minute before she was able to gasp and inhale again.

Once she was breathing steadily, she looked up, searching for the hole she had fallen through. It was either closed, or she had fallen too far to see it. Either way, she had no way to get to it.

There had to be something! Freddy, a creature who she could no longer deny existed, liked to _play_ with his food. He would put an exit in there if only to taunt her with it.

Faye pushed herself up off the ground, and as she looked around the dark for a way out, something brushed over her bare foot. She screamed as thousands of little things started to crawl up her legs. The girl ran and batted at her legs, smacking all the little crawling _creatures_ until the only thing left of them was an itchy reminder. She coughed and choked down a sob. She was not going back that way, not without shoes or bug spray.

She decided to continue the way she was going and pressed forward, using her hands to make sure she didn't run face first into a wall. They came into contact with something. Something… warm.

Hands closed around her wrists and another scream tore into her ripped up throat and something pushed her into the wall. He used his left arm to pin her there, and gently held one clawed blade against her cheek.

"Clumsy little girl. You fell into my ant farm." He chuckled as she tried to pull away. "You hurt some of my pets. I think I have to teach you a lesson." He brought the blade down and she could only let out a soft whine as pain seared across her face.

"Death by a thousand cuts," he muttered. "Ever hear of it? I've never gotten to try it before, but I like new things. But maybe if you beg real nice I'll kill you fast."

In response to that, she kicked forward and her foot connected with the man's crotch. Even to a dream demon it seemed to hurt, bad. He let go, stumbling back, and folded over himself. The girl turned to run; anywhere would be better than right next to an angry Freddy Krueger.

The plan failed almost immediately when she tripped, her foot caught in something that dug into the soft skin and didn't let go. Footsteps slowly approached her, metallic screeching following close behind and echoing through the room. The girl curled up and tried to muffle the sobbing that she couldn't help but give into.

"You really think cryin' is gonna do anything to help you?" Something brushed against her arms and pulled them up and away from her body, stretching her across something that felt like a table. A lamp appeared over her, and she flinched from the sudden bright light. It burned her eyes after so long in pitch blackness.

"Believe me," he continued, running a claw down her shirt and clicking the nails against the buttons. "I would love nothing more than to make this last. But I only get a few toys, and I don't want to lose you. Not when I'm so _close._ " The blade moved and stopped over her heart. He grinned one last time, drew his hand back and-

The girl felt a horrible pain. It made her want to scream, but she could only let out a muffled sob. And yet- This couldn't be death. Because the pain wasn't in her chest. It was in her leg.

She sat up, the blanket she had been sleeping in tangled around her. Her pajamas were soaked in sweat, and they clung to her. The room was dark and almost comfortingly small, but pain stilled burned her leg.

She reached down and grabbed the toes of her feet, pulling them back and forcing the muscles to relax. Faye closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Had… it been real? Or had it just been a dream brought on by the location?

One hand went to her cheek, and when she felt something wet and warm, she knew. It had been real. It had all been real. It had been real, but- But she had done it! She had escaped! She felt something swell in her chest, and the girl burst into something that was a mix between giggles and sobs. It had really happened, but she had escaped. She had survived an encounter with Freddy Fucking Krueger, the Dream Demon himself.

The girl did not sleep again that night. She gathered her day clothes and snuck to the bathroom, where she cleaned up the cut on her cheek and ran cool water over her bruised ankle. It was only once she was cleaned up that she changed and went back to her room. From there, she went back to her room and spent the rest of the night.

They were immediately worried over the cut, but she brushed it off and said she had gotten her foot tangled in blankets and tripped, scratching herself on the way down. They had believed her, and on the way out, the old woman gave her a small, sad smile.

It wasn't until they were out of that town that she leaned against the window and shut her eyes, enjoying the brief respite. She was going to enjoy every last bit of undisturbed sleep she could manage.

She slept until the car slowing down woke her up, and she yawned, rubbing her eyes. Camping would be fun, after that. She smiled to herself as they slowly drove down the dirt path, trees surrounding their car from every angle. This was going to be relaxing, she could have a nice time with her parents, nothing would try to kill her… It was a win on all accounts.

At least… That was what she thought. That was what she thought right up until she saw the sign over the entrance to the camp, and all thoughts of mirth and joy flew out the window she was leaning against.

The sign read "Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake."


	2. The Enemy of my Enemy

Chapter Two: The Enemy of my Enemy...

"Faye, could you move everything into the cabin? We need to go get more ice for the cooler."

That was the last thing her mother said to her before she and her father drove off back to the town. They had forgotten on the way in, and she was going to pay for it.

Moving all the stuff into the two cabins that she and her parents were going to be staying in took less than half an hour. First Freddy, and now Jason? She preferred them fighting each other, not her.

… Mental note, get B to watch _Freddy vs Jason_ with her. If she survived this. Part of her had hoped that maybe she would escape unscathed, but a quick glance at her phone had revealed the date. Friday the Thirteenth. Yes, Jason would be out to kill tonight.

After she had moved everything into the cabins, she headed to the fire pit. This wasn't the first time they'd ever been out in the woods, but it _was_ the first time she'd been to Camp Crystal Lake. It took her a few minutes to gather enough twigs and sticks to make a decent fire, but once she did, she got a roaring fire going. She set the kettle up, dumped some of the water they'd brought in it, and added coffee bundled up in a filter.

She was still exhausted from the lack of sleep from the night before, and tonight would be much the same. If it was true that Freddy had domain over dreams in the camp, then she couldn't fall asleep. Well, between Freddy _and_ Jason. She didn't want to be stabbed with a machete in her sleep either. Not only was it his territory, it was his day. She had to remain alert.

The coffee was bitter without anything else to sweeten it, but that didn't stop her from downing it as soon as it was cool enough. She tossed the used-up coffee into the fire and poured herself a second cup. The sky was slowly changing overheard from blue to pale pink, and the fire was getting brighter as the area darkened.

Her phone buzzed loudly, and she grabbed it and answered, immediately.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey," her mom's voice spoke. She sounded tired, and almost upset. That was not a good tone.

"Hi mom," she replied. "What's going on? Are you almost back?"

"Oh, sweetie. Something happened with the car. The mechanic said that it looks like somebody cut the fuel line, and we only just made it into town. It won't be fixed until tomorrow, and everybody is refusing to take us up there tonight."

Of course the locals would refuse. It was a Friday the Thirteenth, so nobody in their right mind who knew what went on in the camp would go there until the next day dawned and it was safe.

"We'll be staying in town," the woman continued. "But you have everything you could need up there, okay? Do you think you'll be able to handle a night on your own?"

"Yes," she responded. Why didn't she say no? Well, she couldn't. If she said that no she didn't feel safe, then she was sure her parents would figure out a way to hike up there and if they did… They would die.

She probably would too, but… Even if she was terrified, she wasn't going to let them die pointlessly too. And hey, she survived Freddy. She could… She could survive this too.

They said their goodbyes, and she hung up, sticking the phone back in her pocket and feeling more afraid than ever. In the short time they had been on the phone, the sky had darkened even further. Almost all the pinks and reds were faded into starry skies. She tossed a few more sticks onto the fire, took a deep breath, and sipped the second cup of coffee. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

' _There's_ another _teenager in my camp.'_ The Crystal Lake Killer thought furiously. His hand was wrapped around the hilt of his machete, watching the figure crouch next to the fire. ' _Why won't they stay away? Why won't they just leave us alone, mama?'_

' _I don't know my dear,'_ his mother's soothing voice responded. She always managed to comfort him, though her voice didn't diminish the rage against this trespasser either. He wished she could still be there to hug him, but he was grateful to still be able to hear it. ' _But I know that you'll get rid of her, just like you always do, my good boy. Go make me proud.'_

' _Yes mama,'_ the mute killer thought in response. ' _I will.'_

He stepped back into the trees and any hint of him vanished. It was time to get to work.

* * *

Faye wanted to be back home, with her friends, not sitting next to a campfire and waiting to die. How had she ended up in this mess anyway? All they wanted was a peaceful family trip! That was it!

The angry thoughts swarmed around before she let out the breath she had caught in her throat. This kind of thing was never going to work if she just sat around and mentally cursed her position. She had to be proactive! Or, maybe she didn't. After all, she was a good girl. Or, at least, she tried to be. Maybe that would get her off the hook?

Jason normally killed teenagers who did drugs, got drunk, and had sex. The three cardinal sins of horror movies. She didn't do any of those! And even if she normally did, she couldn't while she was there. Her parents did _not_ bring drugs or booze, and she was alone, so it would be impossible for her to have any form of sex. Maybe… Maybe he would see that she was behaving, and he wouldn't hurt her.

She sure hoped so, because the last of the light was fading from the sky.

She could feel sleep grabbing onto the edges of her mind, and even finishing the pot of coffee wasn't going to keep her from slight dozing. So instead, she stood and started to pace around the fire. The movement would keep her awake, even if her ankle was throbbing from where it had gotten caught the previous night. She had to stay alert, had to stay ready. There was no telling when Jason would arrive.

 _Ki ki ki, ma ma ma._

There was _some_ telling when he would arrive. She wrapped her arms around her body and looked around, wondering if she should grab a lit piece of wood from the fire. She knew that sound, she had heard it from so many movies.

Jason Voorhees was there.

A movement caught her eyes and she froze, turning her head to look at the spot. That was it. That would be where he came from. She took a step back, ready to turn and run.

The push parted to reveal… a Lynx? The wild cat peered at her for just a moment before darting back into the bushes. She sighed in relief, took a moment to steady her nerves, and turned to keep pacing.

He was there. What was with killers and getting behind her? Much like Freddy, the movies didn't do him justice. The man towered over her small form, bent forward as if trying to study the girl. His mask and clothes were covered in grime, and she could see his scarred face under the eye holes of his mask. He smelled a bit like musty clothes that had been in the washer for several days, and she couldn't help but step back. He hadn't moved yet, but he was glaring at her with such a deep-seated hatred that chills went up her spine. He was huge, and she was tiny, only topping off at about five feet. She backed up, slowly, trying to find steady ground to retreat too.

And yet… He wasn't attacking her, not just yet. She was starting to get an idea. Running wouldn't work. Hell, it might even make her look guilty. She'd seen the movies, and he was much faster than expected. It was tempting, but she couldn't run. Not until he started trying. So, why hadn't he taken a swing at her, even though she was right in the way?

She could only think of one reason why he wouldn't immediately try to kill her, and that was because she had been right. She hadn't provided Jason a reason to kill her, an indication that she was a 'bad girl,' and he was waiting for her to prove it. And she wasn't. She was clean. By his own rules, that meant that she didn't deserve to die.

The girl had a plan. It might be a fatal plan, but it was better than just doing nothing, wasn't it?

She stepped forward instead of back, and Jason paused. He tilted his head as if her action had confused him.

"I know who you are," she stated much more calmly than she felt. "You're Jason Voorhees. Right? I heard what those awful kids did to you. What… What those awful counselors let them do to you." She stepped forward again. She was close enough to reach out and touch his arm, which meant he was close enough to swing the blade and kill her, if he so chose. It was easy to make herself sound sincere, because she really did feel sorry for him. He didn't deserve that treatment. Nobody did. "I used to get bullied a lot too. I'm dyslexic, and really short, and my full name is… Weird. Really weird. And it only stopped because I made a really scary friend who refused to let other people treat me like that. So, I… know what it feels like."

It actually seemed like it was working. The large killer tilted, staring down at her with more curiosity then loathing now.

' _What's that word mean? Dyslexic?'_ He thought to his mom as he stared down at the teenager. She hadn't even tried to run yet. Most teenagers did. Plus, he hadn't seen her break the rules or act bad yet. Still, she _was_ a teenager. She was probably just like all the others that had come to his camp before.

' _It means,'_ his mother finally spoke, ' _that she can't read right. Her brain doesn't see words like other people do. She is… like you, in a way, if she's being honest. Kid were cruel to her, just as they were to you. Hmm…'_

'… _Should I kill her now, mama? She's right here. I can do it really easy.'_ His grip on the weapon tightened, but he didn't lift it. Not until his mother told him if he should.

' _No, sweetie.'_ She responded slowly. ' _No, not yet. I want to see what she does. She might be a good girl after all. But… if she does_ anything _bad, then you know what to do. And you have all the permission to do it.'_

Faye watched the killer, who seemed to have either dazed off or was thinking very hard. She wasn't sure if she should try to run, or if her words had gotten through to some part of him that remembered what it was like to be on the wrong side of the teasing. Finally, he seemed to relax, and he put the weapon in his hand through the belt on his pants. He was still just… staring at her. But the sudden lack of malice in his eyes told her that he probably wasn't going to try and hurt her.

Well. _Probably_ being the key word.

"I know you can't talk," she began, slowly. "But… Can you write? I might be dyslexic, but I can still read enough to get by, and… This is important. It might take a while, but… It's better than nothing, right?"

For a very long moment he didn't move. Finally, he slowly nodded, and she felt some of the tension drain from her body. "Can I just go and get my things? They're in Cabin five… Behind you."

Jason stepped aside, allowing the girl to pass to the cabin. She walked by him, half expecting to feel a blade in her back and half hoping that she was right, and that the killer wouldn't harm her.

She didn't feel anything in her back, though she could hear the heavy footsteps following behind. Of course, she didn't think that he'd let her wander around unsupervised. As long as she didn't misstep, she would be fine.

It took almost no time to reach the cabin, and she was careful to leave the door open for the killer, something that under normal circumstances would be a terrible idea. She grabbed the backpack and began to dig through it until she found a pencil and her drawing pad. She flipped past pictures until she got to the new pages and handed both the book and the pen to Jason, so he could write. Once he had the items, she sat on the bed, legs folded neatly beneath her. Now all she had to do was wait.

The killer studied the blank page for a few long moments, and then he brought the pencil down against the paper and began to write the letters slowly and carefully. It took an agonizingly long time before he finally held up the paper and she could see what it said.

"What is… You're asking my name?"

The killer nodded in response.

"My name is Faye." She smiled, albeit very awkwardly, and held out her hand. It was something she did by habit when introducing herself, and by the time she'd offered it… Well, too late to take it back. The very large killer reached out his hand and took her much smaller one, very gently shaking it. Was he… actually _trying_ not to hurt her?

He started to write again, below the first part, and she watched as he carefully made the letters. When was the last time he'd gotten a chance to actually write things? When he was alive? … When he was a child?

This time, when she read it, the message almost made her a bit sad. "You're asking me if I'm afraid?"

The killer nodded again, and she bit the inside of her cheek as she though. Lying probably wouldn't help her much. But telling the truth… Would he be upset if she _were_ afraid of him?

"… Yes, I am. But not as much as I could be. You haven't done anything to hurt me yet, and… If you were going to, I don't think you'd have put up your weapon, or taken the time to talk to me. I'm still… Weary, though. I understand that if you wanted to, you could very easily kill me. I… I hope you won't. I already almost got killed by Freddy, and it-"

He was scribbling furiously on the paper, very quickly. Much more quickly than he had before, and when he turned the pad around, and she could see why he had been painstakingly slow earlier. She had to squint to make out the words, but she could piece a few together enough of it from context.

"How did I get away from Freddy?" She leaned back and rubbed her eyes. The limited light was not helping matters, not at all. "Well, he was about to kill me, and my leg cramped. And somehow, that woke me up. He wasn't actually holding onto me, so I got away."

She reached up to touch the bandage she'd placed on her cheek. "I got away, but just barely. He was ready to stab me in the heart. I just… got really, really lucky."

She couldn't see the expression under his mask, but he carefully flipped the page and began to write again, back at his slow and steady speed. Finally, once he was done, he turned it around so she could read the page. It took her only a moment to recognize a very familiar expression.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend? … So, we're friends then, are we?"

The killer nodded, and she could almost feel herself relaxing. Friends with Jason Voorhees, huh? She could handle that. It was a lot better than getting killed by him, anyway. At least, that was what she thought he meant.

"If we're friends, then… That means you aren't going to kill me, right?"

He didn't respond. She bit the inside of her cheek again, only stopping when she tasted blood in her mouth. Was he really considering killing her, still? Or… Was he figuring out if he needed to specify? He wouldn't kill her if she kept to the rules.

"I promise, I won't do anything bad. No drinking, no illegal drugs, no… intimate relationships. I'll be good. I'll behave."

And that was what finally got him to shake his head. No. No, he wasn't going to kill her. She let out a small sigh of relief that turned into a yawn.

"Excuse me," she stated as soon as she could talk. She really _was_ determined to be on her best behavior. "I'm a bit tired. But thank you, thank you so much."

He was back to scribbling at the pad when she spoke, and he held it up after another moment of scratching. It was a simple question. If she was tired, why didn't she just sleep?

"I can't. I can't sleep. I don't know if Freddy will come back, and if he does, I don't think I'll be able to get away again. If he shows up-"

Jason shook his head, fiercely, and grabbed for the writing pad again. He used it to reassure her that Freddy wouldn't come here, but if he did, and if it seemed like she was having a nightmare, then he would wake her up immediately. Faye… Wasn't sure if she should trust the killer. After all, as kind as he was being, he still made it a habit to murder people her age, didn't he?

Well, what did she know about Jason? Unlike Freddy, he _didn't_ play mind games. He didn't have the time for it. If he wanted her dead, he'd have done it long ago, not given her time to get away. Jason was a very forward serial killer. If he was presenting her this option, it was because he really meant it.

Besides, she was beyond exhausted. She needed sleep, needed it very badly. How did Nancy manage seven days without sleep? How did B manage almost twice that? She couldn't even handle two.

"Thank you. Really, thank you so much." She decided to trust him. It might be a mistake, but… She didn't think it would be.

Surprisingly, falling to sleep with a six or seven foot tall serial killer wasn't as hard as she anticipated it being. It was late, she was tired, and at least she wasn't alone.

The girl slept a peaceful and dreamless sleep, something that surprised her almost as much as the fact that she woke up at all. It took her a few seconds to get rid of the grogginess, and then she sat up and looked around. The cabin was empty, save for her. Nobody else was there. Jason left?

Her drawing pad was sitting on the bedside table, opened to a new page with large and carefully sketched letters. She picked it up and read them, running her finger under each word to make sure that she was reading it correctly.

He'd left because the sun had some up, and the sunlight hurt his eyes. Which, really, explained a _lot_ of things about the series. She sighed and closed the book. Well, on the bright side, things should start to calm down, right? Hopefully, anyway.

Well… Her parents said they'd be there today. She spent her free time gathering up everything that she had worked to unpack the night before, packing her clothes and drawing pad into her backpack, and making sure to throw water over the campfire so that all the little embers were fully out. Jason would probably be very upset if she accidentally burned down his camp. Granted, they hadn't actually done any family camping, but somehow… Somehow, she felt that they wouldn't be staying any longer, especially if her parents had been talking to the locals.

By the time the familiar blue car pulled up the dirt road, she was standing outside, adjusting the last bit of supplies, and chewing on a stick of jerky. She had realized that she hadn't eaten since the day before, and her stomach was not pleased with her.

Her mother was out of the car first, and as soon as she got to the girl, she hugged her tightly. Faye was _very_ glad that she didn't have any injuries on her sides, or she'd be in a world of pain.

"Oh, Faye- Are you okay? We heard rumors about this place when we were in town, and they were so horrible."

Faye didn't even need to imagine the kind of things they'd heard. She had watched all the _Friday the Thirteenth_ movies, even the ones that… Well, sucked.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" The woman repeated as she stepped back to brush a hand through the girl's hair.

"Yes mom." Faye smiled up at the woman to get her to relax a little. "I'm just fine. Nothing happened. It was… actually a pretty quiet night."

"Good." Her mother gave her one more tight squeeze, before letting go and looking at the packed up supplies. She didn't hesitate to hoist the closest item up and start to put it in the back of their SUV. "We're going home. We… decided that it might be a better idea to spend our vacation at home. Maybe near the beach! That sounds fun, doesn't it?"

"… It sounds good to me." It really did. Besides, she'd been to the beach near their town several times, and nothing too terrible had ever happened before, other than the occasional cut from rocks. It would be a much safer vacation.

As soon as they got everything loaded up, Faye climbed into her seat and leaned back against the car cushions. It was familiar and safe, with her parents in the front seat discussing something that she hadn't been listening to long enough to tell what they were talking about.

She pressed her face against the smooth glass, and her eyes widened as she saw what seemed to be a hockey mask floating in the trees. She lifted her hand and gave a small wave, and the killer returned the gesture, much to her delight.

As glad as she was that Jason considered her a friend now, she also couldn't wait to be back home in her own bed again. Though it had only been a couple of days since they left, it felt like time had gone so much slower.

She wouldn't call it a fun weekend, but she couldn't say that it was dull either. It was… interesting.

Faye sincerely _hoped_ that it would be the most interesting moment of her life. It was only a pity that hopes weren't enough to protect her.


	3. Magic Mirror on the Wall

Chapter Three: Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who is Scariest of Them All?

The journey back home from the failed camping was a mostly uneventful one. Her parents hadn't even stopped. Perhaps the local legends had gotten to them, or perhaps it was just that they wanted to be home as much as she did. Whatever the case, they had taken the direct route and had been home in just over an hour.

Much to her relief, nothing of note had happened on the way home.

She sent a group message to a few friends that she was home earlier, and a few of them asked about a sleepover, as a way to celebrate and because it was _like_ camping, sort of. It really wasn't, but she didn't have the heart to tell them that. Seeing her friends- Her non-serial killer friends, as the case was- might be just the thing she needed to calm down.

The biggest problem was that, while most of her friends would be there, her _best_ friend wouldn't. B wasn't the slumber party type, not that she could blame the other. B was far from the average person, but that was a big part of the reason Faye considered the other girl her best friend. She was fun in a way that the rest of them just weren't.

Still, if they were hosting the party in her house, then they were doing what she wanted to do. She _had_ wanted to rewatch some horror movies, particularly _Freddy Vs Jason,_ and what was more fun than watching scary movies at a slumber party?

Her friends, on the other hand, quickly grew tired of the films. They decided that with or without her, they were going to play Truth or Dare.

Faye decided that maybe she needed better friends. Then again, hijacking her party wasn't the worst thing they could do, and she did acknowledge that, okay, horror flicks weren't for everyone..

"Faye!" One of the girls, Melanie, looked at her and grinned. "Truth or dare?"

She shrugged, a bit absentmindedly. So far the worst dare had been one of the girls prank calling their principal, and it was… surprisingly boring to her. It was a sort of cheap thrill compared to everything that had happened during the camping trip.

"Truth," she finally decided. Maybe they'd ask something that was a bit more interesting than the dares had been.

"Why did you _really_ end your vacation early?"

… She couldn't tell them the truth, could she? But lying was very hard for her, and she was terrible at it. Besides, if she were caught lying she'd have to do a dare, and the whole point had been _not_ to do a dare. They wouldn't _believe_ her though, no matter what she said.

"Well… We just decided to cut it short. My parents heard some legends about the camp and didn't want to stay anymore."

"No _way._ People research places before they go there, you know." Alison, another friend, cut in. "You figure out about those things _before_ you go."

Faye gave a helpless shrug. "What can I say? They did. And our car started having trouble, so they just decided it would be a good time to leave."

There were skeptic looks all around, and she bit the half healed sore on her cheek. She needed to stop that, it was a bad habit.

"What else? And what happened to your cheek? Aaaaand you've been limping. You're not telling the whole story, Faye."

Damnit. She wasn't even lying and she was still bad at it.

"I got hurt, uh… We were staying at- Wait. I can show you." She grabbed her phone and pulled up the picture, half sad that she didn't get one of Jason too. Still, she could turn it around and show them the house. If they wouldn't stop asking, she might as well just bite the bullet and get the dare over with.

"What's that? Why's that a big deal?"

"That, my friends, is Fourteen Twenty-Eight Elm Street. Otherwise known as the house of the Dream Demon Freddy Krueger! I had a run in with him, and he did this to me."

The other three girls stared at her for a long moment, before one broke into laughter. The other two quickly followed, snickering along.

"Oh my god, really? Did you actually think any of us would buy that? Come on! … Well, if you won't tell us what _really_ happened, then we'll just have to come up with a dare."

The three began to whisper, and Faye scowled. Well, they had asked, hadn't they? It wasn't her fault they didn't believe her. Finally, after several minutes, they turned back about.

"Well, we're gonna make an honest woman out of you." That was Charlotte.

"Wait, what?"

"You said you talked to a monster, and you lied. So why don't you go to the bathroom and summon one of the mirror things! Like, you know, Bloody Mary or Candyman." Charlotte grinned.

"… No," she stated, shaking her head. "No, I don't think so. I don't want to, not after- Not after that trip." Not after what she'd already seen. Before, it could have been just a fictional thing, something that wouldn't have actually hurt her. Now? Now there was no way she could be sure. Hell, if anything, now it seemed all too likely that this summoning would work _exactly_ as intended.

There was no use arguing, though. She was one girl against three, and two of them, Charlotte and Melanie, grabbed her arms and dragged her to the bathroom. She didn't want to hurt them, so she couldn't fight back, and after a few minutes of struggling, she was shoved into the bathroom.

Whoever had designed the room must have really hated their family, because the light switch was on outside. That, and there was a small lock on the outside that could easily keep her in, short of her taking the door down.

"We aren't letting you out until we hear some summoning, Faye! Come on, it'll be fun!" Alison teashed, from the _safe_ side of the door.

She faced the mirror, folding her arms. She couldn't see herself, it was too dark. Maybe if she just waited, they'd let her out? … No, they were really patient, and she didn't want to spend the night in the bathroom. Maybe nothing would happen, but things didn't bode well for that idea. Maybe if she prepared instead…? If she had a way to protect herself, she might just be able to get out of this.

She had no idea how she would be able to fight Bloody Mary, but… Candyman had a weakness. He used a hook. She might be able to deal with that. What did she have that could throw him off?

Hairspray! She grabbed the can of it and weighed it in her hand. It felt almost full. She gave the can a good shake and held it in her left hand. After all, she didn't need much to spray it. What else could she use to help stop him, if he did show up?

The plunger got her eye. It was basically a long stick. She grabbed in her right hand and nodded to herself. She could handle this.

The girl looked into the mirror again. Her eyes were adjusting to the dark, and she could see her silhouette.

"Candyman," she started. She could hear excited squeals from outside, and she took a deep breath. "Candyman, Candyman, Candyman."

She gave the can a final shake. "Candyman."

A figure appeared behind her, and she immediately ducked. A hook slashed out to right about where her throat had been.

The bathroom was small, but she managed to twist herself around quickly enough. The man lifted his hook again, and she brought up her left hand and sprayed the hair product directly into his eyes. He screamed, and any of the cheerful banter from outside died down. The scream was nothing like hers. It was deep, obviously masculine. They had to know what they'd done now.

She took the plunger and shoved the handle through the hook. She grabbed both ends of the wooden stick and twisted. Not only did the hook at the end of his arm move with the stick, but his entire arm twisted itself around. She shoved it away and he fell backwards, into the tub. The curtain went with him, and she took the confusion to run to the door and pound her fists against it.

"Open the door! Open the door right now, turn on the light!" She heard a snapping sound and twisted around, pressing herself against the door. The mirror spirit advanced toward her. She brought up the hairspray, but he sliced forward with the hook and stabbed the can, allowing all the pressure to seep out. She threw the can at him, and it _did_ make contact with his head, causing him to stumble back.

She was out of items. She didn't have anything else to use, and-

The door swung open and she landed on her ass. Light flooded into the bathroom, and the man had only a second to stare at the frightened group of girls before he disappeared, banished back into the mirror. She looked up at the other girls, who all had horrified expressions etched into their faces, and there was only one thing she could say.

"I told you so."


	4. Rubik's Cube Gone Bad

Chapter Four: Rubik's Cube Gone Bad

"What's your pleasure, sir?"

The two were sitting in a quiet corner of a bar on a cruise ship. Two drinks rested on the table with them, one almost empty, and one untouched. Nobody paid any mind to the two, almost as if any time they tried to look at them, their eyes simply passed over and onto something else.

Resting between the glasses was a puzzle box. It was small, with intricate gold designs over a backdrop the color of old blood. When the buyer picked it up, he found it to be heavier than he thought it would be. He ran his thumb gently over part of it, felt the slight give as the puzzle part dug in.

The seller reached over and rested his hand on top of the box, lightly pushing it back down to the table.

"None of that now, sir. Not here. Not until you give me what I want."

"I'll take it," he replied. He set his own part of the bargain on the table; a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills. The other man's eyes lit up slightly as he accepted it, pausing only to flip through the bills and ensure that all of them were indeed hundreds. Once he'd verified the bills, he slipped them into a pocket on the inside of his jacket.

"A pleasure doing business with you, sir."

A few minutes later he was out on the deck, leaning over the edge to run his thumb across the designs again. It had taken so long and required so much sacrifice to find, but he had done it. The ultimate in pain and pleasure. And he was going to-

Something slammed into his back, hard, and his grip on the box failed. It went tumbling end over end, vanishing into the dark waters below. He turned to the man who had bumped into him and was already stuttering out an apology, and he brought his fist to his face, hard.

"Do you realize what you just cost me? Do you have _any_ idea what you've done?" He grabbed him by the shirt and threw him against the wall, bring his fists down on his face again and again until security arrived to take him away. He would be arrested for aggravated assault when the cruise made landfall.

The box, meanwhile, would not be lost forever. A few weeks and a thousand miles away, it would lay nestled in the sand, waiting patiently.

* * *

Spring Break was almost over, and Faye was almost glad. Usually she loved the break that popped up right in the middle of one of the more stressful parts of school, but getting back into a normal rhythm would be good, even if…

The sleepover had ended, and her friends had been faced with a decision. They either had to admit that they had been wrong and Faye had been telling the truth, which meant that had nearly gotten her killed, something which could have been avoided entirely if they had just listened. Or they had to deny it. Deny it, call her a liar who faked everything for attention, and get to sleep comfortable at night.

They chose the latter.

She only had one friend left, and she wasn't sure that she _should_ tell her. B was a bit eccentric, though, and she didn't think that the other would abandon her, though word about her 'lies' had been spreading fast. She'd already gotten several texts about it, much to her dismay. Whatever, maybe she should-

"Faaaaye!" Her mother's voice echoed from somewhere down stairs. "Come down here for a moment."

She forced herself to smile, and walked down the stairs, wincing at the faint lingering pain in her ankle. Her cheek injury was almost healed. Enough that it didn't need any more bandaging, though she still applied some ointment to it in the mornings.

"Yeah, mom? What's up?" She called back, once she got to the foot of the stairs.

"It's such a lovely day out, sweetie. Do you want to go to the beach with us? It _is_ one of your last days of spring break, so it's the last chance we'll get for a while." The woman smiled lovingly at her. "Are you up for it?"

She nodded eagerly, the smile becoming genuine, then ran back up to her room. This was a pleasant turn of events, wasn't it? She enjoyed swimming, though… Worry caught up and stopped her. She had encountered supposedly fictional horror beings three times. Once was by chance, twice was a coincidence, but… three times was a pattern. Even if the last one _was_ kind of her fault, he had _still_ shown up.

"Are there any killers who focus on the beach?" She muttered to herself as she changed out of her clothes and into a bathing suit. "Not unless I run into the shark from jaws. But there's no sharks here. Plus, there'll be a bunch of other people."

She rubbed sunscreen into her arms, legs, and face, pulled on a shirt over her bathing suit, and studied herself in her bedroom mirror. After a moment, she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her black hair through to keep it tied up and out of her green eyes. Normally she wouldn't tie her hair back, but if something _did_ go wrong, she was not going to die just because Everything was fine, she reasoned. She decided that it would be okay to go and have fun.

By the time they got to the beach, however, the worry had appeared once again. Maybe instead of swimming, she should take a few moments to walk along the beach. That wouldn't be too bad, right? Just a nice walk where she could dig her toes into the sand and maybe make a little seashell pile, or something like that. It wasn't unusual for her to take some time to play around before she actually went swimming. She walked slowly, enjoying the salty breezing brushing against her face and ruffling the free strands of her hair. It was _almost_ relaxing. At least, right up until her foot met something sharp and she had to jump back.

"Ow!" She checked her foot quickly to make sure that she wasn't bleeding, and calmed down once she had found only a small dip. She hesitantly stepped down, and when she realized that there was no more pain, she turned to the item that had stabbed at her. There was a corner of what seemed to be a box. She narrowed her eyes at it and reached to try and wiggle it free. It only had a little bit of give, so she had to work hard, alternating between brushing sand away and pulling on it. Finally, after several minutes, she pulled the item free.

It had been hard to tell what it was while it was under the sand, but once she had freed it and brushed off some of the dirt, it… became all too familiar. She knew what those gold designs were, she knew _exactly_ what this box was. She had never expected to hold it, had thought that it, like so many other things had only existed in a movie. But apparently it was all too real.

It was the Lament Configuration.

The puzzle box that, when opened, would summon Pinhead and the other Cenobites to Earth to rip whoever solved it apart and drag them down to hell. Something dangerous, something deadly. It should _not_ just be buried in the sand for anyone to find.

She wanted to throw it away, and yet… Something about the box made her want to keep it. Wouldn't it be better to get rid of it, though? … But she knew that she would _never_ use it. If anybody else found it, they might not be so lucky, she rationalized. They might use it and wind up dead, and it was something that she could easily prevent. Would be able to, if she just… kept it. She could even lock it in a box and hide it somewhere. Then nobody would be able to get it.

That might work. She carried it to the car and hid it in the back pocket of the passenger side chair. Nobody would be able to see it, and she knew that this thing was worth a lot to those who wanted it. She hid it and went to finally go and swim.

It was a few hours before she got back, exhausted and cold, but happy. She'd had fun for the first time since that train wreck of a slumber party, and she was certain she was going to sleep well. She was in an honestly good mood… Until she glanced down and saw the golden glint that reminded her that she had something more dangerous than most weapons. She retrieved it to hold it for a moment and feel its weight in her hand. What had she gotten herself into?

She placed it on her bed side table, promising herself to hide it sometime in the future, and there it stayed until the next day.

The girl was awoken by her mom shouting in a very loud voice, one that she almost found impressive, considering the woman's petite frame.

"Honey! One of your friends is here! Do you want me to let her up?" It took a moment for that to register in her half-asleep brain. One of her friends? It couldn't be Alison or the other girls from the sleepover, they had refused to contact her ever since. Which left-

B! B who she had only invited to be polite, despite knowing that the other would respond with a ' _Nah, not interested._ ' She was bad with crowds and worse at parties, but she was one of the best people to hang out with. Faye hadn't even gotten a chance to tell her about any of the things that had happened, and knowing her, she'd react rather cheerfully anyway.

So, when she sat up to see one Beatrice Blessings leaning in the doorway and smiling at her, she smiled back. Her friend was wearing a long-sleeved shirt in her favorite color, blood red, and a pair of torn jeans that she held up with a belt. B was always astonishingly pale, paler even than Faye's fair skin, and the effects of insomnia were written all over her face, particularly in the dark blue shadows under her eyes. She had slightly unkempt hair that was somewhere between brown and red, and it was only long enough to fall in her eyes, a mismatch of brown and green that gleamed slightly with a kind of mischief that made her one of the most fun people Faye knew.

"So, Fairy, what's up with you? … Other than still being in your pajamas, anyway," she teased. Fairy was a nickname from B that only the other was really allowed to use. In her words the nickname fit perfectly because Faye was "small and cute like a fairy. Besides, it's what your name means. So, you're a Fairy."

"Not much," she responded as she stood and headed over to her closet to grab something a bit more suitable for wearing around. "I'm going to go change really quick, though. Can't just sit around in the pajamas all day." She grinned, stuck out her tongue, and made for the bathroom.

"Alright." B shrugged and sat on the abandoned bed, kicking her shoes off and leaning against the pillows. The two girls had been friends since first grade, they were basically siblings by that point. This kind of thing was okay between them. As she got settled in, though, a golden glint caught her eye.

She sat up and picked up the box, studying it. She knew what it was, she'd seen _Hellraiser_ before. Hell, she was the one who'd introduced Faye to most of the horror movies the girl knew. A replica, interesting. She pressed her thumb into one of the circles, and her eyes widened as it sunk into the box. A _working_ replica? Oh, this was going to be fun.

"You shouldn't take too long to solve, huh?" She had a smug grin as she set to work, deftly moving the pieces. She was _excellent_ at puzzles.

Faye was quick to change, and when she got back into the room, she was wearing shorts and a plain tank top. For early spring, it was _hot_ outside. Honestly, how did B always deal with long sleeves? It was amazing that she didn't get heat stroke.

"Hey, B, I think-" She froze as her mind registered what B was doing. What was in her hands.

Her friend had the cube. Not only was she holding it, she was fiddling with it, twisting and pressing in pieces. Faye had seen the movie that cube was from countless times, she knew exactly how close B was to solving it, and even though she knew that B wouldn't want to summon the cenobites, wouldn't have the intent needed, all reason went out of her head when she saw the cube. Besides, Kirsty hadn't had the exact intent of summoning them, but… She had wanted _something_ and the cube had responded to it. Who was to say that it wouldn't twist one of her friend's desires?

"B! Stop!" She ran forward and slapped the other's hands- It was the only way she could think of to stop her, even though the quick flash of betrayal in her friend's eyes was not something she enjoyed seeing.

"Faye, what the fuck?"

She couldn't answer the other, though. She was too busy staring at the cube. It had landed on the final piece needed to solve it. The piece that sunk into the box with a small click.

"Oh, no. No no no _no."_ Her voice was little more than a whisper. The cube was solved. Bad luck? … Or, whatever had brought her to the cube in the first place ensuring it was finished? Either way she- She didn't know what to do, other than to back up and stand next to her friend. B stood next to her as the room start to shake.

"Faye, what's… What's going on?" There was still a touch of anger, but it had been mostly overpowered by confusion. Faye grabbed the other's hand, almost like when they were kids and had to get vaccines, and tried to swallow the lump of fear in her throat.

"You'll see." Faye whispered. The shaking got worse, and it became a struggle for the two to stand. A glow emanated from the walls. At first it was dim, but it began to brighten as the violent shaking tore cracks through the room. Directly in front of the two, the cracks met, and chunks fell out and away until there was no longer a wall. In place of it was a black void, and a second later a person stepped out.

No. This was not a _person._ Not anymore. This was a cenobite.

The figure who walked out of the doorway grinned, an emotionless expression. It was all too easy to recognize him. His face was lined with neat perpendicular scars, pins pressed into each intersection. The skin on his torso was split and peeled away to expose muscle and some foul scent that made Faye gag as she clung onto her friend, half protective and half terrified.

To the right came another figure. Her neck was torn apart and held open, and needles pierced both of her cheeks. To the left, a third, the flesh from his face marred and distorted. His mouth was ripped open and held apart with hooks and chains. Though neither could see, they both knew that behind them was the huge cenobite, with eyes sewn shut and stomach torn open. All of them smelled like putrid rotting flesh.

"We have such sights to show you. Wonderful sights. Terrible sights." Pinhead stepped forward, a trace of humor leaking into his voice as he looked down at the two. "One of you, at least. Which one of you opened the box?"

B was frozen next to her, and the other girl was only dimly aware of how tightly she was squeezing her hand. Damn! She shouldn't have left the box there. She should have hidden it, or told B about it, or something. Anything but let this happen.

"Neither of us did," she stated firmly. Dealing with three- Well, two other nightmares and one oddly teddy bear like killer- had gotten her to at least know that action was best. When the fear became familiar, it was harder for that freezing terror to entirely overtake her. "It fell on the floor. The floor solved it." She managed to keep her voice steady until the last syllable, where it cracked.

The figure in front of him slowly shook his head, cold eyes boring into their own. "One of you was in the process of solving it. The box could not simply open itself, nor could the floor manage. So, tell me, which one of you worked the box to such a degree that it could be finished by simply dropping it onto the floor?"

"We didn't open the box ourselves," Faye argued. "It fell and it opened then. Neither of us did it." She was gaining a little bit of confidence, if only because they hadn't actually tried to kill her or B yet. Could they not?

The Chatterer spoke in his own unique way, the chattering noises sending shivers down her spin. The female cenobite said nothing; she simply rolled her eyes at the foolish antics of the humans before her.

Pinhead kept his cool gaze leveled at her, and in his eyes, she saw flashes of torture, knives and burns. It was only when B tugged her arm that she could pull her gaze away. "And one of you must come with us. We will be merciful enough to give you an hour to decide who. But one _most_ come with us."

They were gone. It was as if they never existed. And with it, the cube that had sat in front of them, looking exactly the same as it had before B had touched it.

B sat down hard on the bed. Faye sat down next to her, only letting go of her hand to twist around and studied her. "Are you okay?"

"Am I _okay?_ Well gee, I just solved something I thought was a _prop_ and it turns out that it was the _real fucking deal._ I'm peachy, Fairy. Just peachy." The girl's sarcasm was almost thick enough to touch, but it did a lot to show Faye that she wasn't completely broken by the experience. She was still _there._ Faye could only reach up to pat the other girl's back.

"I can explain. Or, I can try to, at least. It's a bit of a long story." She took a deep breath and began to talk. By the time she finished explaining about Freddy, Jason, and the Candyman, half of their allotted time had faded. As she was talking, though, she was filling a few clean pages of her sketch pad with rapidly drawn words and pictures. They had to do something. They couldn't both just sit there and wait until the cenobites came back. Once both her story and plan were done, she handed it to her friend.

B studied it for a moment, and that mischievous grin was back. In that moment, Faye could feel that it was going to be okay. It would take some time to get there, but… B wasn't running and screaming. She was going to stick around. And that gave her all the hope she needed.

"Ready?"

"You bet. Come on, let's get ready."

The last half an hour went by quickly, far too quickly. There was no fanfare this time. One moment the room was normal and quiet, and the next the box had shifted back to its solved state, as if it were alive, and the walls were ripped open once again. So much for the box being unable to solve itself.

"Have you decided?" Pinhead spoke solemnly as he looked down at the two. They had been caught only slightly off guard, both girls sitting on the floor with the book open between them. Though, if they had expected to throw him off by changing into more similar clothing, they were mistaken. Though they now both wore long sleeves, he was not too far gone to be unable to recognize faces.

"Yes," Faye stated, standing up and stepping slightly in front of her friend, who remained on the floor for another few seconds to pick something up before standing next to her. "I- … I'm going with you. It was my fault that _thing_ was here, my fault it got solved, so… I'm going."

Pinhead looked almost disappointed, as if they had picked incorrectly, but he still nodded.

"Very well." He turned to face B, for a moment. "This is not for your eyes then, child. Leave us."

B looked down and away, but nodded and walks out the door, casting one last glance back at Faye before she slammed the door behind herself.

Pinhead watched her go, only turning his attention to the other girl when they were alone. He smiled, a very cruel expression that terrified Faye worse than anything else she had faced thus far. She swallowed nervously and bit the inside of her cheek as he spoke.

"And now," the leader of the cenobites stated, "now we can begin."

The hooks were swift, and even if she had tried to avoid them, she wouldn't have been able to. They lunged for her as if they were alive, digging into what should have been her skin.

What would have been, had they not had time to prepare.

Instead, they dug into cloth and fabric, and when they pulled taught, they pulled her clothes, not her skin. The extra padding she had tucked under her outfit was enough to keep them from digging in, and while she felt the cool metal of the hooks against her skin, almost none of them pierced it.

Only one hook got flesh, one that hooked into her cheek and dug in. It hurt, and it reopened the wound that had already been there, but the pain was not nearly as bad as she expected. Her eyes watered, and she squeezed them shut, breathing deeply through her nose as the pain peaked, before beginning to fade into a dull sting. It was only then that she opened her eyes to find Pinhead studying her, an almost pleased smile on his face.

"I did not think you'd be the one to hold out so long. Good gir-" He was cut off as an orange glow shot up across the diagram of scars on his face. The look of surprise was almost comical beneath the pins, and then he was gone, as were a few of the hooks that had been holding her.

"The cube, where-" The female cenobite didn't have enough time to finish the statement before she too vanished. A moment later and the suffocating presence from behind was gone as well.

She locked eyes with the Chatterer, who gave a very angry hiss that faded as he finally vanished, leaving her room empty and normal, save for the drops of blood that dripped down her cheek and stained the carpet.

She remained standing for a second longer, and then collapsed, legs giving away from under her. She wasn't even hurt too terribly- it was more relief that her half baked plan had worked that turned her knees to jelly. The girl landed in a heap on the floor just as her friend opened the door.

B had been the one to swipe the cube. She had protested Faye offering herself as the bait, but the girl had stated firmly that she couldn't unsolve it, not quickly enough. Which left…

She had seen the movies time and again, and she had solved the Lament Configuration just an hour earlier. Her fingers flew over the box, reversing what she had done earlier, putting it back the way she had found it.

She had hurried. She didn't have nearly enough time, not if she wanted to banish them all before they had a chance to react and seriously hurt her friend.

It only took a minute for her to finish it, and then she was on her feet and pushing open the door to see-

"Fairy! Hey, don't-" She rolled her friend over slightly to see the extent of the injuries. She found a pulse easily enough, which went a long way in reassuring her. No blood was seeping out from her clothes, though she supposed that the fabric might be stifling it. She couldn't do anything to check- she drew a firm line at stripping unconscious people.

She _could_ do something about the cheek, though. First, she made sure that her friend was tilted so that blood would leak out of her mouth instead of choking her. She very carefully pulled some of the sheets out from her friend's sleeved, and she was relieved to find that they weren't covered in blood. Though that was about to change. She tucked the sheets under her friend's head so that they'd catch the blood, and hurried down to her bathroom. Faye's mom was in the living, reading something that looked like a romance novel judging by the cover, and she just gave her a friendly wave as she walked by.

It took a few minutes for her to find the right stuff in Faye's medicine cabinet. Liquid skin, some antiseptic; it would be able to cover the wound without looking too out of place, and once it was firm, Faye could always dab some makeup on it. The bottle was tiny and easy to slip into her pocket. She even made sure to flush and wash her hands, so Faye's mom wouldn't think to question why she was down there. Besides, if she was going to be poking around at an injured Fairy, she had to have clean hands to do it.

As soon as she got back to Faye's room, she crouched down next to her friend and began to gently clean the wound.

* * *

Faye woke up, confused to what day it was with her heart racing and her head pounding. For a long moment, she couldn't place where she was or how she had gotten there. It was only as she slowly woke up and regained her bearing that she realized she was tucked into bed, which meant… She was safe. Had everything been a dream, then?

"Morning Sleeping Beauty." She twisted to see her friend, who was sitting at her desk and working with a pile of pieces to what she recognized as a 3D puzzle. Hopefully a non-supernatural one. "You might wanna be careful which side of your mouth you eat on for a while.

She lifted her hand to her poor cheek and winced. That side of her face was _not_ getting a break. Something was covering the twin holes on the outside, and it was helping keep the wound closed even on the inside, but her mouth tasted like rust. She couldn't help but lightly prod at the spot with her tongue, liking poking the gap where a tooth used to be. This hurt much more, though, so she stopped almost immediately.

"… So, the plan worked?"

"Yep." B turned her gaze to the puzzle box that had been set carefully on a shelf, nowhere near either of them. "So now…"

"We get rid of the box."

Fire hadn't worked on it, so they decided to try water instead.

A week after the incident, Faye put the Lament Configuration into a lock box. Right next to the puzzle cube, she tossed in the keys to the lock box. It wasn't enough to ensure it was never opened again, but it would make it that much harder for anyone who found it.

They combined their efforts to heave the box into the ocean, right off a pier, so that it would sink down far and fast, and the two watched it quickly vanish beneath the waves.

The mood was solemn, almost as if it were a funeral, and there was a pause as they glanced to each other. If something were to be said, it would have been said in that moment, but… neither had anything to say. So, they turned and began to leave.

The wings did not sound until they were almost off the pier. Faye closed her eyes while B glanced back to see it, though both already knew what they'd see.

"… It's the dragon, isn't it?"

"Yep. It's bigger than the one in the movies."

"… Well, it's not our problem anymore."

"No," B agreed. "It isn't. Not anymore."

* * *

The dragon touched down in an alleyway, shrinking itself to fit in the gap between buildings. The creature didn't ever have to worry about being seen; only humans who had seen the box open were capable of seeing it.

Other creatures did not fall under the same standards. Sometimes their eyes were less open, but…

Sometimes they could see more.

As it landed, a hand reached out to brush against the snout, and it dropped the lock box down in front of them. It's job was simply to ensure that the box would be able pass onto the next person who needed it, and this would do it.

"There are you are, friend." A young and decidedly masculine voice muttered as he picked up the box. "It's in here? It'll take me a little while to open it, but not to worry. I have plenty of time."

He had brought a plate of meat out, which he left for the creature to feed on as he took the box back into the building. It was not very appealing to his tastes, so the creature could have all it wanted.

He set the lock box down amidst stacks of board games from all walks of life, and idly changed the sign on the door to read 'closed,' before going to the front desk and searching for his fire hardened wood tools. He had some very careful work to attend to.


	5. Devil's Doll

Chapter Five: Devil's Doll

Usually high school rumors faded with time, but the events of that disastrous slumber party were still going strong. School had been back in session for a couple of weeks, and people were still giving her dirty looks and whispering when they thought she couldn't hear.

"She thinks getting attacked will make her look cool."

"She faked the whole thing and broke a plunger to try and make it look real."

"A nasty little liar."

To say that it had been a long day would be an understatement. The one saving grace was that B stood by her, and any time her friend overheard that whispering… Well, if looks could kill, half of their school would be dead on the ground. She had an especially harsh glare, one that made the unwary wonder if perhaps one day they would wake up in a tub of ice with a new scar, suddenly lacking a kidney.

It had been hilarious to watch them freak out, especially since Faye knew the other girl wouldn't actually hurt them. Even despite their best efforts, the two girls were against quite a few more. It was… Still not a good day.

She would have loved to seek refuge in the comfort of her bed the moment she got home, but something was in the way. A large box that was maybe two or three feet long, and about a foot high. There was something strangely familiar about it, but she couldn't place where she might have seen it before, and settled with the idea that it was probably just because she went to the post office now and then. They always had huge boxes.

She grabbed it and hoisted it off her bed and onto the floor with a thud, quickly taking its place on the welcoming covers of her bed. It was comfortable enough that she could fall asleep, but something was bothering her. The sensation that she was missing something. She groaned and sat up, staring at the box. Just why had it been on her bed, anyway? What was it?

"Faye, are you alright?" He mother's head poked inside the door, and the woman gave her a small smile when she saw her sitting up. "I thought I heard something fall, and with your luck lately…"

"I'm fine," she replied. "There was a box on my bed and it was just heavier than I expected. It kinda… slipped. Sorry about that."

Her mother walked in and sat down next to her, wrapping her arms around the girl.

"It came in the mail for you. I'm not sure who sent it, but it didn't seem like there was anything wrong with it, and you know how careful the postal service is. How was your day at school?"

Well, that was a question she couldn't answer. Not honestly, at least. Instead, she diverted it. "I have a permission slip for you to sign. Nothing too big, but one of the school clubs is going on a trip for a weekend. I left in on the counter downstairs."

"Alright. I'll give it a read over and sign it." She smiled and kissed the top of the girl's head. "Tell me what it is when you open it. It might be something from one of your aunts."

Faye waited until her mother left before she looked down at the box and grabbed a pair of scissors. She made quick work of the wrapping paper and the tape. Something was still just… So… _familiar_ about it.

She shrugged and open the box to reveal a doll. A doll with red hair and blue overalls, a multicolor striped shirt. There was text that read 'Good Guy' on him, despite the fact that he was anything but. Any thought that he might be something else was ruined by the stitched up scars covering his face. He wasn't moving, not yet, but she had a sinking suspicion that if she turned away for too long, he would.

It was Chucky. Or, rather, it was Charles Lee Ray in Chucky form. It would be pure idiocy to expect anything else after four other encounters.

The girl moved to pick up the doll, pausing as she decided that it would be better to hide the scissors first. She put a hand over his eyes as she tucked them into a different drawer. All the while the doll remained still. She wondered how long he was going to play the part of a doll before giving up.

She went to the closet and dug around for a moment, stopping every few seconds to glance at the doll. After a few minutes, she had him tied up with a jump rope. She gave it a few tugs to make sure that it would hold, and once she deemed it stable enough, she grabbed her phone and dialed her friend. He didn't move through out, and it was almost enough to make her start to think that maybe it was just a Chucky knock off.

Not enough to make her untie him, though.

"B, how fast can you get over here?"

"… What? No 'Hi, how are you doing,' or 'what's up with you' just a 'drop everything and get over here.' What's going on this time, Fairy?"

"You've seen _Child's Play,_ right?"

"Of course I have. What have I not seen- Oh. Oh fuck. You okay? He hasn't tried to stab you yet, has he?"

"No. I've got him tied up for now. Should I tape him back into the box, or leave him like that?"

"Don't take your eyes off him. If you have tape in the room, tape him up more securely, but don't take your eyes off him. I'll be over as soon as I can."

"Thanks. I'll be careful, but… Please hurry. He's giving me the creeps."

It felt a little bit strange to be taping up a doll, but she told herself that it was no normal doll. It was something evil, something that she could not allow to roam free. Thankfully, she had some packing tape in her room, and after a few minutes he was even more secure. She shoved the doll back in the box, closed it, and taped it shut even further, as a bit of added protection.

B arrived not long later, which impressed her, considering the other lived an hour away by foot. She didn't know about B's 'short cuts,' though she could clearly see the other looked like she had just run over. It was only getting hotter outside, and Faye couldn't help but wince at the sight of the usual long-sleeved clothes.

"You want me to go get you some water? You look… sweaty." The other girl gave her a wry grin and nodded.

"Way to make me feel pretty, Faye. But, yeah. I'd appreciate that. I'll keep an eye on our little 'guest' here." She looked down at the immobile box.

"He hasn't moved," Faye stated as she studied the box. "Not yet. I'm not sure what he's playing at yet."

"Bring a knife too," B added "If we're going to get rid of this thing, it'll help us to have him in pieces."

"Right. Be careful." With that, she headed downstairs. B turned back to the box. Was this… really Chucky? The _actual_ Chucky? Well, if he was tied up, than… it wouldn't hurt to take a little peek, would it? She used a nail to slice through the tape, partly to get a look at him, partly because she wanted to make sure that she could keep an eye on the creature so he wouldn't try anything, but-

Shit! Shit shit _shit._

The box didn't have a doll in it. It had sliced up tape and rope, and a large hole carved into the box opposite the side they had been standing. The little shit had escaped.

Her eyes narrowed and she glanced around the room. Getting rid of this guy would be delicate work. She had to be very, _very_ careful. Chuck wasn't large and intimidating like Jason, and he didn't have his own realm to work with like Freddy. What he lacked in size or ability, however, he made up for with cleverness, speed and adaptability. How else could he be considered dangerous when he was a tiny doll?

The door was closed, and she watched Faye leave; nothing had tagged along after her-

Speak of the devil.

The door opened and Faye stepped back in, a glass of water in one hand, a sharp knife in the other.

"I got- Where is he?"

"Somewhere in here," the other girl responded as she took the water and downed about half the cup. Once she finished that bit of it, she set it down and wiped her mouth. "Somewhere out of sight. I wanted to wait until you were up here so we could watch each other's backs."

Faye nodded. "Try and keep away from anything above your neck. If he's in here…"

"I'm pretty sure he's still in here, but... We can't be too careful."

Faye stepped over to the dresser that held the scissors and-

Immediately drew back and yelped as the scissors stabbed down right where her hand had just been. Somehow the doll had gotten behind her dresser and gotten a hold of the tool. He swung the scissors open and slashed at the hand holding the knife as she awkwardly tried to stab at him. She flinched back, almost automatically letting go of the knife which-

 _Shit._

The doll abandoned the scissors in favor for the knife and jumped off the dresser, lunging to stab Faye in leg. She was in a very awkward position. If she kicked the doll, she'd get stabbed, and if she didn't kick the doll- she'd still probably get stabbed.

B was in no such position, and delivered a kick right to the doll's side, sending him into the side of the bed. The knife fell from his hand and she quickly snagged it up as the doll started to push himself to his feet.

"You fucking cu-" Faye stepped on the doll's back, digging the heel of her foot in. He might be a supernaturally possessed doll, but that didn't mean he could escape.

"Oh, come the fuck on!" He squirmed frantically, but both weapons were out of his reach, and neither of the two were seriously injured. All he'd managed to do was scratch Faye.

The two looked at each other as Faye used most of her weight to pin him down. They were both feeling very similar confusion. He was… This easy to beat?

Faye supposed it made sense. He _was_ a doll, after all. She made a gesture to some old clothes.

"Grab those, he's gonna bleed."

B stuffed cloth under the doll, making sure to shove his head down to muffle any screaming and brought the knife down hard on his neck. It took a lot of sawing and blood, but eventually they had a box of still twitching body parts.

"… What are we going to do now? I don't remember if he can pull himself back together, or-"

"We're not done with him yet, Fairy." The other had a very dangerous look on her face. "We're going to light him on fire. Fire always works pretty well on him, right?"

"… I can't argue with that."

As soon as Faye's mother left for work, calling back to the two that there was money for pizza on the counter if they wanted any, they brought the bloody plastic out to her back yard, dumped it on a small slab of cement that was laid for setting up grills, and lit it on fire.

The plastic reeked as it burned, but the two girls remained to watch it until the remains smoldered down into a charred pile of congealed plastic goop. Faye poke it a few times with a long stick to make sure that there weren't any pieces left that could get out from it.

"I think he's dead. Or as dead as any horror movie character ever gets, anyway."

"Yep. I don't think he'll come back for a while. And if or when he does, we'll be ready."

Faye offered a half hearted smile, but it faded as she looked down on the pile of plastic. "… This isn't going to stop, is it? The first two could have been a coincidence… The third time was my fault… That last time was a dumb accident. But this? He came in the mail! Even if someone just randomly mailed him to someone, what are-… Something's _off,_ B. Something is very off."

"You're right. I think… we're gonna see more of these guys. But, hey, you got me. And between the two of us, we can handle any of these creeps, right? We'll take it as it comes, and we'll get through it. For now…" She playfully punched the other's arm. "We have pizza money and some time to hang out. So let's… chill, yeah?"

"Yeah. Let's."


	6. Return

Chapter Six: Return

After a few weeks of ignoring strange looks and cruel whispers, she could almost pretend they didn't exist.

 _Almost_.

She ran her thumb along the half-healed scar on her hand, before picking her pencil back up and resuming her sketching. She had always loved drawing, and she found that sketching out things that she had seen helped get them out of her head. She had landscapes of trees with a well-hidden hockey mask, or lightly shaded pages with outlines of claws or ants.

She was really tired.

She had to admit, though, she was glad that it was finally time for their field trip. She wanted to get out of the house for the weekend. She loved her parents dearly, but… They had been getting a bit overbearing lately.

* * *

Margaret Christoph was concerned.

Her daughter had been acting unusual for the past month or so, since right around their last family vacation. While she had to admit that it hadn't gone very well, she still wasn't sure why. She had seemed fine when they got back to the camp, though she and her husband had heard… Far too much about it to feel comfortable staying there any longer.

Though she was unhurt, she had seemed very tired. She had even fallen asleep twice in the car, something that was very unusual for the girl.

How could she broach the subject, though? She liked to think that her daughter would come to her if she had a problem, but as of yet… She hadn't mentioned anything. She supposed that it could be just normal teenage moods, nothing that wouldn't pass over time, but being unable to do anything was hard for her.

… She decided to keep a close eye on her child, and if she noticed a continuing trend, she would talk to her husband. Hopefully, though, there would be nothing to talk about. Besides, she had been eager enough to go back, so what was the harm? No, she reasoned, everything would be just fine.

… And yet, she couldn't help but worry.

* * *

On the plus side, B was still firmly on her side. She hadn't left, even though it was becoming clear that things were going to be dangerous. They didn't have many classes together, but at the moment, they and the other members of the club were just waiting for the bus to go on their trip. B… Wasn't usually the club type, but Faye had suggested that it would be a good way for them to hang out, so she had relented. The strawberry soda bribery didn't hurt either.

Speaking of the other, she was studying her permission slip with a somewhat strange look. At least, it wasn't one that Faye had ever seen on her face before. She turned to look at her and slid the paper over.

"You said that you and Jason left on friendly terms, right? Because you're all well behaved and stuff?"

"… Yes? Why?" She tried to slip the paper back, but her friend shook her head and kept it in place.

"Did you even read the form, Fairy?"

"… No. I've been rewatching horror movies to find whatever advantages I can, and the permission slips are always in such tiny text. It hurts my head to read them." She glanced at the paper, though. What had she missed?

"Take another look at it. Mostly, look at the location."

… She didn't need to look to take a wild guess. It was obvious from the questions her friend had asked where they were going, but she still skimmed the paper until she found the exact location where they would be camping.

Camp Crystal Lake. Really? _Really?_ And _of course,_ it was another Friday the Thirteenth. Still, she didn't think that she would get hurt. Jason had seemed to like her, after all. But at the moment it wasn't herself that she was worried about.

"We're going to-" She stopped speaking. It didn't matter what she said, it wouldn't change where they were going, and it was something she had mixed feelings about. On one hand, she would probably get to see Jason again, and it would actually be pretty nice to get a chance to talk to him without being worried about dying.

On the other hand, he might kill her classmates, and that was a very terrifying notion. … The lack of concern for the rest of the kids once she realized that she could probably keep B safe was even more terrifying.

"We could skip it," she stated. "Stick around school, or… Say we're feeling sick or something. We don't have to go."

"Are you kidding, Fairy?" Her friend had a grin that almost worried her. "This is going to be _fun_."

Strike that. It _did_ worry her.

They only had about fifteen minutes to change their minds, because was how long it took for everyone to load their stuff into the back few seats of the bus.

And then… They were off. B wasn't too worried about the trip. She was very similar to Faye- She didn't drink alcohol, she definitely wasn't going to be having sex on this trip or anywhere in the near future, and she didn't use any street drugs. If Jason had spared Faye for those reasons, why not spare her?

She was confident that she and her Fairy would be just fine, and really, that was all that mattered.

The bus took the fastest route, so they were at the camp after about an hour and a half of driving. Faye took the opportunity to catch up on her sleep, because somehow she didn't think she would be getting much sleep at the camping destination.

It was just after noon by the time they got to the camp, and it look almost the same as Faye had left it about a month before. As if it hadn't been touched since then. It was… kind of surreal, actually.

"We're here!" Their teacher, Ms. Scarlet announced. She was a nice teacher, though her biggest pet peeve was one that was unfortunately all too easy to poke at. There had been many jokes throughout the school year of 'Ms. Scarlet in the classroom with the homework,' and it had gotten old after the first week. Lately, though, only the most unoriginal and unfunny of the kids still made that joke. "Alright, it looks like we're all here, so… I have the cabin assignments! Listen up everyone. In Cabin One, we have Vanessa and Melanie. Cabin Two goes to Fayora and B. Cabin Three will be Conner and Marco, and Cabin Four has Allen. If anyone needs me, I'll be in Cabin Five! Any questions?"

Faye listened only long enough to hear that she and B were sharing a cabin, before turning out to glance around the camp some more. Whoever else they were sharing the cabin with, she really didn't care.

The camp wasn't quite; it was buzzing with the sounds of other kids chatting about how much fun they would be having. She was looking past them, though, out to the trees. She wasn't sure whether or not the killer would be there.

"Alright everyone! Go and get your stuff into your cabins! We'll be having dinner at seven on the dot tonight, but you all should have your packed lunches to eat for now. Go and have fun!"

Pity, she hadn't gotten to see-

Wait! She paused for just a moment as her eyes caught a mask just under some leaves. It vanished before she could do more than study it for a second. Well, he was definitely watching, that was for sure. She knew he would be.

She and B grabbed their stuff and headed to their cabin. They had a lot of talking to do before night fell.

* * *

Why did they always come to disturb his sleep? He just wanted to rest in his home, _his_ camp. How many were there now?

A quick count and he figured that there were seven teenagers and one adult. He could take care of them in the one night, it wouldn't be too difficult. He just had to wait for them to break off alone and-

… One of them looked strangely familiar. Had a short girl with long black hair ever escaped him? Not that he could-

She turned in his direction, then, and once he saw her face he realized where he had seen this girl before. It was Faye! The girl who'd shown up by herself, and made a very convincing case at why she should live. She hadn't broken any of his rules, even his mama said so.

She spotted him; he could tell because she stopped scanning the trees when her eyes got to where he was standing. He would have liked to wave or say hi, but… Well, there was nowhere near enough time for that. He had to spend a lot of time preparing for the night's activities. She was a smart girl, though.

She would know to stay out of his way.

* * *

After dinner, Faye and B retired to the fire to roast marshmallows. It _was_ still camping, after all, and what was the point of camping without roasting marshmallows? Besides, this way B could stay close to her, and as long as B was nearby, then she was sure that she could get Jason to stop and listen.

Or…

Jason would decide this time that she wasn't good, and he'd kill both the girls.

They had both packed their own food and drinks, though, and not only had they made sure that nothing could even be remotely mistaken for alcohol, but they were keeping them well enough away that they could be sure that nobody would spike them.

Both of them were well behaved, except for maybe the one little thing-

Hopefully that didn't count.

"… So," B began, "you wanna take guesses on who's going to die first?"

"Hmm."

She looked around at the other classmates who were there, not really considering Ms. Scarlet had already turned in. Besides them, there were five.

"Conner or Vanessa," Faye stated. The two were a couple that had been together the entire year, and they were rather obvious about that fact. As evident by the fact that they were tucked under the shade of a tree and… It was very hard to tell them apart.

"I'm going with Allen." He was a guy who acted very tough, but neither girl had ever seen him back up any of that with anything even close to the way he talked. He was still kind of an asshole, though, which was the exact kind of person would die first in a horror movie.

"I think Melanie snuck some beer in with her. So, she might go first, if she's drinking it." Faye muttered. She had issues with the other girl; She had been one of the girls at Faye's slumber party, and she was the one who had started the nasty rumors about her. That didn't mean she _wanted_ to see her die, but- … Well, if she could save anyone, it would be B.

"I'd put Marco on for last. He doesn't seem like he'd do anything." Marco was a nervous kid, who had probably only come on the camping trip to prove he could handle a few nights in the woods. It was kind of a shame, he was a quiet kid who hadn't ever really done much.

"… We should go to the cabin." Faye glanced up at the sky. "It's getting dark, so I think the fireworks are going to be starting soon. He mentioned the light hurt his eyes, so…"

"You really think that sitting in the cabin will keep him out, Fairy? If you do, then we need to rewatch the movies, 'cause it's been way too long."

"Nah. I just think that it means he'll show up there last. If everyone else is out in the open…"

"Alright, fair." B nodded and stretched. "Let's go get tucked in then."

* * *

If B were being entirely honest, then… Well, who wouldn't be scared of Jason? He was huge, faster than anyone would expect, good with making traps, and… Well, armed with a machete. Did anything else need to be added? Sure, Jason might be friends with Faye, but that didn't mean he'd need to be friends with… Her.

As it was, neither of the two were dressed in pajamas. Both of them were still in the clothes they had been wearing all day, shoes laced up in case they had to go. Running wouldn't do anything to help, but… They had to be prepared for anything.

Besides, hell. Jason might not go after her. But… Well, she supposed it depended on what he made of prescriptions.

* * *

The killer paused by the window that his friend and another girl were in. He watched as they talked and laughed, and his head fell slightly to his side as he tried to figure out what was going on. Were they… friends?

If they were, it would make this much harder. Killing Faye's friend would definitely make her upset, and he didn't want to do that. But…

' _Mama? What do I do? … I don't want to kill one of Faye's friends.'_ She didn't respond for several moments, and so he gently prompted her again. '… _Mama?'_

' _Oh, my special boy… Keep an eye on her. If she turns out to be a good girl like your other friend, you can let them both be,'_ the woman whispered softly, as if singing him a lullaby. ' _If she isn't, then you know what you need to do.'_

He understood exactly what she meant, though… He could wait to come and see Faye and the other. He had at least five more teenagers to kill who _were_ being very naughty, and his machete already had fresh blood from his first victim of the night.

* * *

Faye sat on her bed, leaning against the wall, and twitching one of her feet. She wasn't so much doodling in her sketchbook as she was drawing abstract shapes and then carefully filling them in.

She was waiting for the screaming to start. After all, they were a bunch of teenagers who were in Camp Crystal Lake on Friday the Thirteenth. What _else_ could happen?

She had thought about it and she was sure that Jason wouldn't kill her; he'd already spared her, and she hadn't broken any of the big three rules. No drinking, no drugs, no sex.

What about B, though? Would he let her go? Or would he… not even hesitate? She was just as well behaved as her, except for-

Well. Medication. But that was something she needed, could she really end up dead for that?

… It had to work out. It just _had_ to. She couldn't imagine a world without B, and she wasn't about to start now. She would figure out a way to make sure they both lived, whatever it took.

… And that was when the first scream sounded, and the most recent of the Camp Crystal Lake massacres began.

* * *

Three of them were in the lake, and Jason wasn't about to go in there after them. They had been in there for a few hours, though, so they would probably get out soon. They were a problem for him a few minutes in the future.

For now… His eyes drifted to the other two, who were quickly losing more and more clothing under the cover of leaves and night. He glanced away, though he could feel rage bubbling in his chest.

They were going to die first.

He walked to the tree they were under, keeping his footsteps silent with the skill only someone who lived in the forest and practiced constantly could manage. He climbed swiftly, already able to see which branches were sturdy enough to hold his weight.

It took some doing to position himself just over them, and once he did, he used the slightly blood-stained machete to gently saw through one of the branches. It took him a few moments to sharpen it, but the teens below were… Far too distracted with each other to notice anything. Once he got a nice sharp point, he leaned down and used every ounce of his inhuman strength to drive the branch down through the girl's skull.

The boy leaned away at the loud crunching sound and screamed as he saw the bloody stick yank itself out of his girlfriend's head. She lolled forward onto him, and his screaming increased in both volume in pitch. He looked up, trying to find the source of the thing that had stabbed down. The same branch drove down through his mouth, tearing the lower half of his jaw completely off.

It didn't kill him, though, and the burst of adrenaline was enough for him to scramble backwards, out from under the corpse of his girlfriend. He pulled himself to his feet and ran for the lake as the killer dropped out of the tree and reclaimed the branch, just in case.

He watched the boy stumble for the lake and laughed to himself. It wouldn't do him any good. It rarely did.

With that final thought, he stepped forward, steadily making progress towards the boy. One down, four to go.

* * *

Conner stopped at the edge of the pier, waving his arms frantically to the other three. It was dark, though, and they couldn't see the blood dripping down his face. They all laughed at him, and… in other circumstances, he wouldn't blame them. He was standing there in nothing but his boxers, and he couldn't make any noise to indicate that they needed to listen to him.

"Ey Conner, you done lip locking with ya girl, finally? Why doncha come take a swim with the rest of us?" The sky cleared just as Allen finished his sentence, and the almost full moon lit up the pier. His face became just visible enough for the others to see the gaping hole where his jaw should have been.

The moon stayed out long enough for them to see two more things- The large shape behind him and the stick that was very suddenly jutting through his chest.

* * *

Jason watched the other's scream as he pushed the boy's corpse into the water, letting the branch go with him to help drag him down. Blood spread through the water as the other three teenagers frantically tried to get away from it and him.

He let them, for the moment. He had plenty of time to kill them.

Now, however, he would disappear. He would vanish into the woods and let them soak in their own fear for a while. Besides, they were still in the water, and he wasn't going to go there _just_ to kill them.

They would meet their fates soon enough.

* * *

Marco didn't know where the other two were going, but he was going to find Ms. Scarlet. She was the adult, so she had to know what to do in this situation. She _had_ to.

He got to Cabin Five and pounded his fists against the door. "Ms.? Ms. Scarlet? There's- There's a problem!"

She wasn't answering. He knew that she had gone to sleep rather early, but why wouldn't she be answering? He tried to shove the door open, but was met with resistance. It was locked.

He walked around, hoping that maybe if he found a window or something, he could get the teacher's intention. He was halfway around the side when he saw curtains fluttering in the breeze.

An open window!

He could get the attention of Ms. Scarlet through that, and then she could do something to help.

As he walked to the window, he realized that something was wrong. Glass glinted on the ground, and the curtains caught on shards that hadn't quite gotten knocked out of the window. He swallowed his fear and kept going.

He looked inside. A light illuminated his teacher- or, more accurately, the body of his teacher. Her neck was slashed into a second grin, and blood had seeped down, dying her light nightgown into a dark red.

He opened his mouth to scream, but the sound stuck in there. He had to find the others, he had to tell them _right_ then.

He turned to go, only to be met Face to Mask with someone who was monstrously tall. His screamed slipped out as a low, terrified moan, and he squeezed his eyes shut as the machete embedded itself into his stomach. He collapsed to his knees as soon as the blade was pulled free, guts dropping out the hole. Weakly, he grabbed onto them with one hand and tried to keep it in.

… It was almost a mercy that Jason brought the blade down, slicing his head almost cleanly in half, and allowing the boy to finally collapse to the ground.

* * *

Faye gave up on shapes, and was now sketching the interior of the cabin from her own point of view. It was quiet enough, for the moment, though the screaming had gone on for a while. How many people had he gotten so far? At least one or two, she reasoned.

"… Y'know, the suspense isn't as bad when you're pretty sure that you're not gonna die."

"I mean, I'm almost bored," B responded. She was reading one of the many copies of Another Note she had, and Faye could see even from the distance that it was one of the more well-loved ones.

"I'm thinking about drawing the lake in the morning. Or, maybe an outside view of the cabin. Or Jason. You think he'd stay still long enough for-"

The door to their cabin burst open only long enough for Allen and Melanie to run in before the only remaining boy of the group slammed the door shut and locked it. He leaned against it, breathing heavily. Melanie staggered forward until she hit the back wall, and almost collapsed onto it.

"Well, you both look like you've seen a ghost," B commented with all the humor of a stone. Faye met Melanie's scared eyes and couldn't help but get her a small glare.

"I told you so, didn't I?" It wasn't the time. There would never truly be a time for it. This, however, was the only time she _would_ get, considering Melanie didn't have much time left. "I told you it was all real! But you called me a liar. A crazy bitch."

"I'm sorry, Faye! I'm- I was afraid! You summoned something, and it worked, and- How else could we react? You almost died and- Oh, oh god, it was our fault." Tears were streaming down the girl's face, and Faye could finally feel a little bit of sympathy for her. Not much, but… Some.

"H-hey, I think maybe we should-" Allen's eyes popped, suddenly. He opened his mouth and blood started to dribble out. He let out a last low noise, and a loud snapping was sounded. He fell forward onto the ground, the head and part of the shaft of an arrow wedged deeply into the back of his head. Melanie screamed, while B and Faye looked to each other, mismatched eyes meeting green ones. The inevitable confrontation with Jason was fast approaching.

Quickly, Faye hopped to her feet and cross the room to sit next to her friend, ignoring the other girl. Maybe it was cold, but… She doubted she could save both of them, and if she had to choose, she would pick B. She would pick B every time.

The door was then kicked open, the lock snapping easily as the huge figure ducked into the cabin. It… Didn't really matter if the door closed behind him. The only quick way out was that door, and even if the teenager he had his sights set on could muster the courage to try and get past him, it would just result in the same thing.

He stepped forward as Melanie cowered against the wall, and drove his machete forward, directly into her chest, all the way down to the hilt. Her legs went limp and she weakly grabbed for the hilt, but between the angle, the pain, and the fact that it was just as set into wood as it was her body, she couldn't get it free. Jason left her to feeble attempts, knowing that even if he removed the blade, she would die just the same.

Instead, he turned to look at B, and he… paused.

' _Wait, sweetie. Just one moment…'_

' _Yes, mama?'_

He could almost feel his mother studying her through his eyes. She looked first to the mismatched eyes, one brown and one green. The shape of her nose, the facial structure…

She wanted to ask something, but he couldn't talk, so he raised a hand and gesture to her. She seemed… like that wasn't the reaction she expected, and when she lifted a hand to point at herself, he nodded. The only reason Faye hadn't immediately jumped in the way was because… Well, he wasn't attacking her.

"You… Wanna know who I am?"

The killer nodded, slowly.

"My name is B Blessings. Nice to meet you."

' _Blessings…'_ Came the thought from his mother, along with an amused laughed. ' _No need to worry, my dear. I can assure you that she's a very good girl, who would only ever do things if needed, just like you.'_ He could almost accept that, but… There _was_ something just off that he had noted, and he raised a hand to point at it, still meeting B's eyes.

On the night stand stood a small bottle that most people could easily recognize as a pill bottle. The message was clear. _What are those?_

"…" She followed the gesture, breaking eye contact. "Those are medicine. They're antidepressants." At the confused head tilt, she hesitated. "They're… They keep me from getting sad and doing bad things like… hurting myself. I need them. Believe me, if I didn't, I wouldn't be taking them."

He paused to consider that for a moment, and then reached forward. Faye was halfway through jumping up to protest when he just… Patted B on the head.

It was an obvious gesture that meant he wasn't going to hurt her, and she smiled at him, a rare gesture towards someone who wasn't Faye.

"… So, we're cool?"

The killer nodded, after a second.

"Sweet. So… How willing would you be to just stand there for a while?"

He glanced to Faye, who had grabbed her drawing pad and held the pencil poised over it. He nodded again, held up a finger, and grabbed the machete from Melanie's chest, giving it a good yank to free it. Without the blade there to hold in the blood, it wouldn't be long before she bled to death.

With that taken care of, he turned back to the other two- His _friends._ He had two now! And he stood still. Very, very still. It was easy for him to do, and he was in the perfect position to watch as the smaller of the two began to quickly sketch out an outline of him.

… Having friends was fun.

* * *

Jason watched to two from the comfortable shade of the trees. It was daytime, now, and the two were packing up their stuff and getting ready to hike back to the nearest town, which would take them a few hours at least. They had mentioned they couldn't drive the bus, which was a shame, but… Well, they had to get going.

They had asked if he could set up a few of the bodies in ways that made it obvious a pair of teenage girls couldn't manage, though both figured that the locals would be well aware that they didn't do it. Faye was glad that she had never went down with her parents- They wouldn't recognize her, then.

He couldn't watch them the whole way, but he _could_ keep an eye on them until they left the confines of his camp. Then it was the same song and dance of a very efficient police team that did their job quickly and left. Nobody liked staying in the camp for too long, after all.

He wore a grin under his mask. It had been a fun night. He'd gotten to kill several more naughty teenagers and a neglectful adult, making the world just a bit more pleasant, and he'd gotten to see Faye again, _and_ made a new friend. It had been a very good day.

… At least, it had been a good day for him.

* * *

At the end of the Saturday just following the thirteenth, B was over at Faye's with the rest of her camping stuff and a shrug, saying it wasn't like her mom was expecting her home until Sunday evening anyway. Faye… Hadn't explained to her parents what happened yet. Just that the camping trip had been cut short and that she'd rather not discuss why, but she really wanted B to stay over with them. Her parents had reluctantly agreed.

And now they were sitting on the couch with some cold water and snacks, idly flipping through the disk book of movies they had.

"B?"

"Yeah?" Her friend pointed to a movie, and Faye idly nodded her approval of the choice.

"Looks good to me… Who do you think is gonna be next?"

"Oh," she stated, "I have some ideas. But whoever it may be, I have plans."

"You're pre-planning scenarios?"

"Oh but of course. I mean, _someone_ has to. How else are we going to be ready if this shit keeps happening?"

Faye considered that as she put the movie in, and after a few moments, she smiled.

"B?"

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor. Never change."

"Aww, Fairy. Don't worry, I have no plans to."


	7. Another Trip

Chapter Seven: Another Trip

Faye's sketchpad was… Full.

It was full of nightmares and monsters, things that she had tried her best not to think about other than when she was drawing, but…

She didn't have any free space left in it. And if she couldn't get things out of her head, then how was she supposed to deal with them? Sure, she could get a new sketchpad, but until then-

She hadn't actually admitted the nightmares to anyone, not even B. Oh, they weren't like _Freddy_ nightmares, at least not ones that the actual dream demon himself showed up in, but they were nightmares nonetheless.

She had filled her sketchpad with images from them. The Candyman, looming over her for just that split second before he disappeared, The cenobites and their sadistically pleased faces, even that damn doll, because she knew what could have happened, what would have happened if she never knew about what was going on.

She needed to get a new sketchpad, but… Usually when she filled one up, she'd show it to her parents, and they'd point out pictures that they liked of hers. This? How could she show them the detailed drawings of monsters when they were already worried about her? And oh, yes, she could tell they were worried.

It had only been about three months or so since the first incident, two since the last. It had been quiet since the last trip to Crystal Lake. Well… Quiet on the serial killer front, at least.

Rumors flew at school. She and B had done it, they said. Had killed all those other kids, and their teacher. The police that investigated, however, had ruled that they were innocent. They had been held for only a couple of hours before the police came back from the camp with the long suffering looks of people who had seen that kind of thing all too many times before. Legally, they were clean. Not that it helped with the rumors.

She and B stuck together, though.

And B… Well, B watched her. Faye had gone through much worse so far. She had stood up to the cenobites, something her friend was almost envious of, and Jason had seemed like he never planned to hurt either of them.

Maybe that was why Faye was handling it so much worse. The girl had been through a lot more than B had on the serial killer aspect, and she had been losing sleep. A little fear was good, but she was sinking so far into fear that B was worried she'd get lost in it. Hell, Faye had even skipped the last day of school for the year, something they always came to just to have fun goofing around.

No, there was no doubt about it. Something had to be done about this. There had to be a way to help her, and all B needed to do was figure it out. Maybe… arranging some things so that the next meeting would be a 'controlled' one. Or, as controlled as it could get, if this went the way things had been going.

Faye and her parents usually went on an end of the school year trip, as a little celebration for another year done. Her dad was some kind of lawyer, and her mom had her own job at as a manager at a store that B never went to. They weren't rich, but they were pretty comfortable. As for the annual end of the school year celebration, Faye usually got to pick, since it was for her. Maybe… a little bit of a nudge would be enough to get the girl to pick something that B suggested.

About as soon as it became clear Faye wasn't coming to school, B waited until the passing period and slipped into the bathroom. From there, it was only a few minutes until the late bell rang. Getting out of school was almost laughably easily.

There was enough time for one pit stop, which was a local art store, and then it was off to Faye's house.

Judging by the lack of cars, Faye was home alone. It was a wonder if she would even answer the door, but B figured if she checked out the peephole, she would. The girl's house didn't come equipped with a doorbell, which left knocking. Thankfully, B had a pretty loud knock.

It took a few minutes, but the door opened to reveal a tired looking Faye, who smiled at the sight of her friend.

"Hey- … Wait, school's not over yet."

"Nope, but you know as well as I do the last day doesn't matter. Seriously though, if you were gonna ditch, you could have called."

"Eh, I didn't want to make you have to skip if you didn't want to."

B gave her a very pointed look, and the girl shrugged, laughing. "Well! Okay, maybe it was silly, but…"

"So, can I come in?" B held up the bag from the art store. "I brought a present!"

"Well, if you brought a present." She laughed and nodded. "Come in, come in. We've got the house to ourselves, which means nobody will be here to judge you eating straight jam."

"Ohhh, you have some?"

"Of course."

* * *

Five minutes later, Faye was sitting on the couch, drawing pad resting on her knees, drawing one of the more simplistic designs from the Lament Configuration. Even if she didn't have the actual box to work with, she had studied it for a while before the… incident. B, meanwhile, was on the opposite end with a spoon and what remained of a jam jar. How she managed to eat that stuff pure, she would never understand.

"So, you figure out where you wanna spend your vacation yet this year?" B asked, scraping jam down the sides of the jar so it would collect on the bottom.

"I dunno. I think I'm just gonna see if we can stay home this year. It's… I don't know where to go. I'm scared that wherever we wind up… something'll show up, and I don't want to deal with it alone."

"So, go somewhere with a killer who wouldn't go after you," B responded. "Even if you do run into them, just… Go on your way and don't look at them. That's an idea, right? And hey, maybe I could come with you. I've been saving my allowance, so I'm sure I'll have enough to pay my way."

"I don't wanna make you do that."

"You kidding, Fairy? I'd love to come along." She flashed her a grin. Faye responded in kind, after a moment.

"Alright… Where would we go, anyway? I don't know what kind of place has a killer that wouldn't be after me. I mean, usually they go for teenagers, so…"

"I have one idea," her friend admitted. "We could take a trip to Los Angeles, you know. It'd be fun."

"But the only killer we know based there is- Okay, yeah, he might not be interested in _me._ But in case you didn't notice, your name is B Blessings. Double B."

"True, but! I am also a young teenager, which means I would be safe. After all, Quarter Queen was a teenager, and she had the whole reverse thing going on, right? I'll be fine. Plus, none of the victim descriptions in the book fit me, so… It's not like it's some prophecy foretelling my death or some shit. We'll be fine."

"… You just want to meet Beyond Birthday, don't you?"

"Okay _maybe._ But all of my points still stand."

Faye just sighed and rolled her eyes. "… That's not actually the worst idea, you know. And… As long as we stay together, it'd be _really_ hard for anyone to get to us."

"Yep. So… Let's see about Los Angeles!"

* * *

B left about half an hour before Faye's mom got home from work. Faye waited until her mom had gotten a bit more settled, kicked off her shoes and settled on the couch before she went to sit down next to her.

"Hey, mom? I think I have an idea for… uh… where I wanna go, for the end of school thing? I was thinking about it, and I have an idea."

Her mother turned and smiled at her, and the girl could almost sense the relief in the woman's expression. She did feel a tiny bit of guilt for putting the woman though so much. It had… only been a matter of time since she heard exactly what happened at Camp, and she had been… worried, to say the least.

"Can we go to Los Angeles, maybe?" She hesitated for just a moment before asking, but her mother nodded quickly.

"Yes, that sounds lovely. It's not too far away, and it'll be- It'll be great! It'll be fun, and this'll be a much better family trip then the last one."

"… And, um, one other thing…" Faye wasn't sure how her mother was going to take this, but… "Can B come too? Please? I mean, she's practically family too, and… She's been saving up her allowance, so she can pay her own way."

The girl's mother bit her lip and turned away for a moment. She didn't mind B, of course, especially since it seemed like her daughter only ever smiled around the other girl, but… Ever since the slumber party, B was the only person Faye would hang out with, and she wasn't sure that it was good for the girl to only have one friend. And she couldn't help but wonder if B was partially responsible for how her daughter was acting. She loved her daughter dearly, and would even if she took up her friend's… less than cheery disposition. But still, she wanted her daughter to be happy, and if that meant allowing her friend to come with them on the trip, then so be it.

"Yes, of course she can, if that'll make you happy." Faye was the most important person to her, and she could put up with anything to make sure that her daughter was happy.

A little more than a week later, the four were aboard a plane to Los Angeles.

* * *

The hotel room they had was nice and cushy. It had two beds, one for each of the girls. Faye's parents were in the adjoining room, and the two were sleeping off the jetlag. Faye and B had been given very specific instructions; as long as they stayed together and kept their cell phones on, they could walk around and take in the sights.

"So, what should we do first?" B patted her pockets down to make sure that everything she needed was on her. Faye knew that the other girl never bothered with purses, for a number of reasons. Hell, half the reason her pants were always so baggy was because she bought guy's pants just so she would have pocket space. "Something small, since your parents are out of commission. Mmmmm. Wanna go and find a candy store or something?"

"I bet they'd have some good ones here… Probably with a lot of strawberry candies?"

"You know me too well. Besides, we still be able to get back here quick if your parents call, right?"

"Yep! Sounds good to me." Faye, on the other hand, did have a purse. That, and because she was always losing pencils in school. A purse meant that she could carry around all the pencils she needed.

"Cool. We can get strawberry candies for me, and the rest of the store for you."

Faye grinned and playfully bopped her friend on the shoulder. "I might need to start buying guys pants too, B. These pockets couldn't hold an any in them, let alone anything important."

Her friend smiled back and nodded. "I know this great place back home called Kitty's Corner. I'll take you shopping there when we get home, if you want. It'll be great."

* * *

It should have been an uneventful trip. The shopping center they'd looked up was only about a mile away from where they were staying, and it was broad daylight. Horror never cast that as the time when people died.

Maybe if things had gone smoothly, nothing would have happened. They could have just… kept going.

However, Faye's purse slipped off her arm.

She only paused to try and adjust the strap, so that it would stay on her shoulder like it was supposed to. It only took a minute for her to fiddle with the strap and then she was running ahead to catch up with her friend, who had turned to watch her, hands shoved in her pockets while she waited for her friend to catch up.

A pair of hands grabbed her and yanked her backwards into an alley. Something touched her neck, something sharp and cold. No, this wasn't right- The whole point of going that was that the only well-known killer there was Beyond, and he wasn't supposed to-

"Give me your purse," whispered a voice. It was unfamiliar, deep, and growly. "Give it to me and you won't have to get a cut on that pretty little neck of yours."

Maybe if she hadn't gone through everything she'd already gone through, she'd have been frozen in shock, which… Would have been bad. She wouldn't have given up the purse or tried to fight back.

Instead of freezing, though, she immediately jabbed an elbow back toward his stomach. His grip didn't loosen enough for her to actually get away; apparently she wasn't the first person to try and fight back. He locked his arm around her stomach and tightened it, pushing the air out of her body. Without a breath, she couldn't fight back, though she could try and squirm.

She hadn't counted on just an ordinary mugger coming after her, and that might be the end.

"Is that how you wanna play? Fine, you stupid bitch." The knife tip started to dig into her throat, warm blood drops blossomed and-

Something touched her back. No, not her back- the clothes that hung over her back. She felt whatever it was catch slightly on the fabric of her shirt, though it didn't go through, and the blade at her throat… Fell away. She opened her eyes, unsure of when she'd actually shut them, as the mugger was yanked away from her. What had just…?

She opened her eyes to see her best friend, standing across from her. The other girl was not looking at her, though. She was looking… Behind her. Eyes wide, in something… surprise? But not fear, not that she ever showed that-

Faye hesitated for only a second before she turned around to look.

* * *

Numbers and names, everywhere. They were always there, constant reminders of everyone's inevitable demise. It was the one constant in his life. The fact that he could see the end of everyone else's.

Never his own, though. Never his own.

They were smooth and steady patterns, each string of numbers a code that stealthy hid the final moment of any person's life. They weren't in any time frame that humans had, but he was considered a genius for a reason. He had learned a long time ago how to read the times, mentally translating them in seconds from the seemingly random number to a coherent date. They never changed.

… At least until now.

It was hard not to notice the two girls walking along the path, even from where he was, in the shadows of an alley. Life spans always stuck to a specific time, the numbers unchanging. They were like an expiration date, something that once set, never changed. These two, on the other hand, were changing.

In one instant the lifespans read years, time that seemed befitting of two teenagers. In another, they had days. Hours. Seconds. They never dropped all the way down to the current time, though some of them did get quite close. The lowest he managed to catch was five seconds, and the longest-

It was different for both of them. Perhaps that was their truth lifespan? Or, perhaps, it was the longest one possible? It was hard to be sure with what little information he had. This was the first time that he had ever seen anything like this before, so he couldn't be sure of anything, something that… was unusual and uncomfortable for him.

One thing was certain. He had to learn more about this. He had to figure out why they changed. But how was he going to manage? His people skills were unfortunately lacking, and-

Oh! One of them was getting mugged. How convinent. His eyes darted to the numbers above this one's head and he mentally translated them in just a second. And it seemed he was fated to die in… about a minute.

This was almost too easy.

* * *

It wasn't often that B got completely lost in thought- Sure, _partially_ lost in thought, but rarely ever completely lost. This time it was different. Yes, the trip was more than just an idea for something that was supposed to be calming for her friend. It was… a test.

B wasn't stupid, and it was rather hard to believe that all of this was a coincidence. One killer? Fair enough. Two? Okay, granted, the first two were Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, so it almost made sense that they were a bit of a package deal.

Now? The count was high. Freddy, Jason twice, Candyman, all four Cenobites, and Charles Lee Ray. That was eight killers, and there was literally no way possible a number that high in only four months was a coincidence. The obvious answer was, of course, the common victim of every encounter. Faye. That answer was just so simple, though. Could it really be that something about the girl just… attracted killers?

Two of them were location based. Two of them were summoned. And that last one had been delivered in the _mail._ Bad luck, bad circumstances, and… Chucky being Chucky. Hell, it wasn't hard to believe he'd mail himself to random addresses to find a new body to shove his soul into.

It was a test. Beyond Birthday wouldn't have a reason to go after Faye. Her name didn't even come close to fitting his pattern, especially considering she didn't have double letters.

It was much more dangerous for B. B Blessings, a double B. Granted, if the age comparison to Quarter Queen worked… She was younger than either B or Faye, but did Beyond Birthday have a method for someone who would fit a lower or an uppercase? There was no middle case, after all.

It was surprisingly easy to get lost in thought when it came to Beyond. He was such a fascinating killer, and if he didn't decide to kill her, it would be almost like meeting a-

Only then did B realize that Faye wasn't following just behind her. Where did that girl go? B turned around to watch the girl struggling with her purse, and sighed. Faye really did need to go shopping or-

Watching her get dragged into an alley was a shock, a big enough shock that it took a moment for B to respond. What? What the-

No, that couldn't be Beyond Birthday. It didn't _fit._ And if there was any killer who B understood, it was that one.

Whoever was going after Faye needed to be dealt with and fast. Damnit! She was not going to die because B had been wrong, that couldn't happen. It just… _couldn't._

By the time B got there, the short fifteen seconds or so, it had already been handled by- …

Now _that_ was Beyond Birthday.

He looked how anyone could have imagined him had they read the book; He seemed to have slightly strange textured skin, likely the result of applying makeup over old burn scars. He wore long sleeves, and either he wore a wig or his hair had grown in enough to almost resemble the wild black mane that L had.

His eyes weren't actually red, unlike most portrayals seemed to think. They were a greyish shade, one that became only slightly lighter as he tilted his head to better study the two of them. He didn't look at their faces, however; he was looking above them, and not really trying to hide it. Their… lifespans?

As if confirming the thought, he slowly looked down at their faces. "… I want to have a few words with you both."

* * *

B was at her side in an instant, suddenly very defensive. Faye, meanwhile, was far more worried about her friend than anything else. While _she_ didn't fit the killer's signature, B sure as hell did. Then again, if he were still looking for people to kill, why would he need a word with them _both?_ She turned to her friend. B was way more of an expert on this guy then she was.

"Well, we're right here. What do you want to say to us?" Maybe it was the best idea to antagonize him, but considering the circumstances, it was a pretty valid question.

"… Your numbers change," he finally stated, after a long pause. His gaze had travelled back to some point above their heads, and he looked… almost fascinated. "They don't usually change. No, they never change. They're the same from the day you're born to the day you die. And yet, yours change. Unlike any others… I realize you might not know what I'm talking about, but I think you do. You look more alarmed than confused. Though I suppose you might just think I'm crazy…"

Neither girl had expected that from the man, and once again they turned to look at each other. Faye wasn't entirely sure if he actually expected one of them to answer, or just wanted to talk. But… He paused when speaking, much like a teacher did when they asked you something and it was obvious you weren't _listening_ to them. As if… he expected a wrong answer.

"I… don't know," Faye finally stated. B shrugged in agreement. From everything they knew about the Shinigami eyes, their lifespans shouldn't be changing. So, why _weren't_ they?

"I see," the man muttered, stepping closer as if doing so would make it easier to figure out the mystery behind their apparently changing expiration dates. "It's unusual. Though, if that's been happening your entire lives, I suppose you'd be used to it. Though… If you were, I'm imagine that you'd know why it was happening, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose we would," came the response from B, who had composed herself much quicker than the other girl had. "It might… just be something weird that just happens."

"Yes," the killer responded. "However, if that were the case, there should still be a reason for it. If it was something that happened by chance, others would be bound to have numbers like that too. I would have noticed. Or perhaps this is the first time it has ever happened? Now, that would be exciting, wouldn't it?"

Faye could ask 'why' about a lot of things in her life. Why did this shit keep happening to her? Why wasn't he questioning how they seemed to know all about his ability? And why- … No, the next one wasn't a why question.

 _Was_ he going to kill them? That was always the big concern in recent days. Though, all things considered, she almost… Didn't think he would. He seemed more like a curious puppy than a murderer, head tilted and fascination sparkling in his eyes.

Beyond continued to survey the air above their heads, biting his thumbnail as he contemplated. For a few moments, there was a silence between the three of them. It wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't quite awkward either. It was… just there.

"What if-" Faye's own voice surprised even herself, but she pressed forward. "What if we tried to figure it out and got back to you?"

"… Got back to me?" The killer echoed. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"Well, I mean… I think eventually we might be able to figure out what is it, and why it's going on. But… for now, none of us know, so until we figure it out-"

"You will not be able to track me down. I make it a point not to be easily accessible."

Faye shrugged and leaned back slightly. "I… think we'll come across each other again.

"With the way things have been going," B added, "I think I can agree. And if not… Well, I'm sure that _you_ could find _us._ " It was a dangerous offer, but one that B seemed almost eager to offer. Of course she did.

"That still doesn't mean you'll have an answer for me," he replied. He spoke quietly and narrowed his eyes at the invisible numbers, as if distrusting them. "But… I suppose that it's a better option than standing here and waiting for a solution. Besides, that's just bad investigating."

His eyes finally moved down to their faces, and there was a flash of a grin. Something that looked terrifying. To… Faye, at least. She couldn't quite speak for B. "Expect me in the future, then. I look forward to getting an answer from you."

He turned and walked away, vanishing into the alley in much the same way as he had appeared from it. B had something that was almost a joyful grin, while Faye was… somewhat uncomfortable. Would the guy kill him if they _didn't_ have an answer? She sighed and leaned against her friend slightly, who just chuckled.

"B, I could _really_ use that candy now."

"Sure thing, Fairy. Let's get going."


	8. Eisoptrophobia

Chapter Eight: Eisoptrophobia

For a few weeks every year, the carnival was in town. Faye and B's tradition was always to go on the last weekend, because the lines were short, and the place was never as crowded. Sure, most of the shows happened before then, but they mostly preferred the rides anyway.

Faye… Hadn't been sure she wanted to go, though. Not with everything else that happened so far that year, anyway. Images of killer clowns flashed through her mind, and she _really_ didn't want to deal with that. Sure, she enjoyed horror, but clowns…

 _Those_ were the really creepy ones.

"So, why are we doing this again? … I mean, I know it's tradition, but-"

"Exactly!" Her friend cut in. "And if we give up on tradition, then they win. And I refuse to let them win. And you should too. I mean… We _could_ spend all our free time cowering in fear in our homes, but do you wanna do that?"

"… No."

"No! Exactly."

"B, how much jam have you had today?"

"Oh, look," the other girl completely avoided the question, "it's one of this Viking boats. C'mon, let's check it out."

At least two jars, then. Faye sighed and shook her head as she chased after her friend.

One might think that after being in a life or death experience, roller-coasters wouldn't have the same thrill. Those people would be wrong. Roller-coasters, horror movies, haunted houses, Halloween- The holiday, not the movie, that was already covered- those were all forms of safe fear. Sure, they were scary, but… Getting really seriously hurt was a rare occurrence.

Lately, though… Well, what could she think? She _had_ been getting hurt, because things had been _real._

The point being, she still enjoyed the thrill of safe rides that got her blood flowing.

The first two days they went there, Friday and Saturday, were fine. Everything went great. They road rides until they got sick, explored a few booths with interesting things like colorful sand in jars, little boxes with mechanical bugs that wiggled around when you opened them, and canvas bags that the booth owners kept cloth paint next to, as a pay to decorate thing. They played a few games and lost almost all of them, though Faye did manage to get a giant blow up hammer despite that.

It was fun!

Sunday was… different.

The first half of the day had been going through the highlights of all their favorite rides, followed by a funnel cake, which was messy, but delicious.

"… So now what?"

"Hm." B leaned back against the bench they were sitting on. "Well, we haven't really seen any attractions yet, have we? I think they have a haunted house, a hall of mirrors… stuff like that. I think there's even a pirate one?"

"Eh. I feel like I'd punch the people in the haunted house," she responded. "So… Mirrors, then pirates?"

"Sounds good to me!"

It was a short walk over to the hall of mirrors, though… They were disappointed to see a 'closed' sign on it.

"Well, that bites." B muttered. "What, you think they're already taking it down?"

"Seems a bit early, but… I guess? Ah, well. Race you to the pirates?"

"I'm gonna kick your ass to the pirates."

B raced off, but before Faye could follow her, a hand reached out from the curtain covered opening, grabbed her by the wrist, and yanked. The only reason she stumbled in with the pull was because, well. Everything had been going so well, that she hadn't actually expected anything. She tried to pull away. She wiggled her arm free, brought it back, and-

"Faye! Woah, hold on!"

She lowered her hand as she recognized Charlotte. She… was surprised to see the other girl. The last time she saw her had been the sleepover- No, the _last_ time she saw the girl, Charlotte had been accusing her of killing Melanie.

"… So, what are you doing? I mean, if you wanted to apologize, kidnapping me wasn't the way to do it."

"What? I'm not kidnapping you!" She forced a laugh and stepped to the side, a bit closer to the door. "I'm just… leaving you here for a while, that's all."

"Leaving me here? My friend is waiting on me, and if I don't show up, she _will_ come looking. I hope you know that."

"Oh, don't worry about her."

* * *

B turned around the moment the pirate ride came into view, to gloat at Faye-

Only to find there was no Faye, which was… Really disappointing.

Instead, there was a medium height blonde that B was pretty sure she had sat next to in English last year. Her name was…

Alison. _Riiiiight_. One of the bitches who had been spreading rumors about Faye. And she was smiling, in an evidently trying too hard manner.

"… I'm waiting for a friend. Can you move?"

"Oh, well, Faye is a bit caught up with our other friend, but if you want someone to sit with, I'd be happy to join."

Alison was… a strange case. B pretended not to notice the obvious crush that she had, but… Well, it was getting harder with every interaction they had. Not only was it unrequited, but Alison had been treating Faye, someone who was _supposed_ to be her friend, horribly. B was… Not about that. Not at all.

"You go ahead. I'll wait for my friend."

Alison frowned and pulled out her phone as B looked over her shoulder. Where _was_ Faye?

* * *

Charlotte glanced at her phone, while Faye leaned against the wall. The hall of mirrors was in a building with curtains all around the outside, to keep the mood lighting.

"… We used to be friend, Charlotte. I mean- … Come on, you really think I did all that? I _told_ you guys I was attacked the same way before."

"Right," the other girl looked back up at her as she finished her text. "You _totally_ didn't go back there and kill everyone to make your story seem plausible either. And B isn't helping you hide it, right? _Tooootally_ not. What Alison sees in that crazy bit-"

"B is not crazy! And no, they were all killed by Jason Voorhees. Not me. You realize Conner was like, twice my size, right?"

"So? Two people could take out a lot without /that/ much effort. If they're smart."

"Thanks for calling me smart." Faye laughed, and the other girl narrowed her eyes.

"You've become a real bitch, you know that?"

"Me?" All of Faye's humor vanished. "What about you? You know, you and your stupid boyfriend are the reason everyone hates theatre, right?"

"Oh, fuck off. You know, I was just going to keep you here for a few minutes to let Alison spend some time with B, but-"

"What? You gonna keep me in here for longer? B's gonna come looking, and then you're going to be so screwed."

Charlotte shoved her, and she fell back, landing hard. Hard enough that by the time she got back up, the other girl had run outside and shut the doors. Faye rolled her eyes and walked over, pressing on it.

… The door didn't budge. She tried again, pushing harder, and when it still didn't move, she tried pulling. It locked? She pounded her fists on the glass. Charlotte laughed and waved. She pulled out her phone, sent another message, and turned to stalk away.

Faye pulled out her own phone and checked, but… The building must have been mostly concrete. She didn't have any signal on it, anyway.

Of fucking course. She slammed her hands against the door and screamed, but the glass was thick, and it was hard to tell where the noises was coming from over all the rides. She turned and stared at the dark mirrors, then sighed and made her way in. Maybe she could find a backdoor or something.

* * *

"Oh, looks like Faye wasn't feeling too good." Alison turned her phone to B, to show the messages from Charlotte. The newest one read that Faye had thrown up the cake they'd had, so Charlotte was going to take her home.

Because that was a totally plausible story. What kind of idiot did this girl take B for?

"Well, I don't mind hanging out on my own," B muttered. "But… I came here to hang out with Faye. If she's not here, then I'm not either."

Alison was stupid to think that she was even B's type, even with all the signals. She was nothing like Tish, nothing like-

… Maybe they _did_ have a few things in common, actually. Then again, B really didn't like thinking about Tish anymore.

* * *

There was no back door. There was no goddamn back door. What kind of fun house didn't have a back door?

… Unless there was one, and it was locked too. She hadn't been able to find it, though, which meant… She was trapped. On the last day of the carnival. Sure, people would come to clean it up _eventually_ but that didn't leave her much hope. It always took ages for them to clean the place up and even then, the buildings were saved for last. If nobody found her, she'd be stuck there for god knew how long/

The doors were glass, but they were a very thick glass, one that even a few swift kicks didn't scratch. God, did they use bullet proof glass or something?

What did she have? … A bunch of mirrors. That was it. And that was not nearly enough for her to actually get out of things. She had her phone and her house key, but they couldn't get out of there with those.

She pressed herself against the wall and slid down, until she was sitting on the floor. It had been a long and mostly fun weekend, right up until her ex friends had pulled this shit. She had to seriously think, though. How could she get out of this?

* * *

B was… Well, furious was almost too gentle a word.

After finally ditching Alison, Faye was nowhere to be found. And oh, B had searched and texted, but none of the messages went through. They were stuck in eternal sending mode.

Great.

By the time the place was closed, B… still hadn't been able to find Faye. Alison could have been telling the truth, but the girl had done little to earn any sort of trust. Besides, if that story was true, then Charlotte shouldn't be there either, and _that_ girl had still been around.

They had done something, but… the carnival was shutting down, and it was time to go.

… That wouldn't last for long. Maybe a quick trip home to gather whatever it would take to get back inside and find Faye, and if those two had done _anything_ to hurt her…

Another trip to Crystal Lake would be in order.

* * *

She wasn't sure what time it was when she woke up, nor did she realize she had actually fallen asleep. She heaved herself up to her feet, flinching as her stiff muscles stretched out. Where was she? She hadn't been in bed-

… Right. The mirror hall.

Her eyes were adjusted to the dark, thankfully, so navigating was easier then it could have been. She still felt groggy, though. The grogginess of an oddly placed nap that left the napper wondering what day it was.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and went over a mental checklist.

 _My name is Fayora Christoph. I am fifteen years old. I am a freshman at Amaryllis High School. Today is Sunday. I know where I am. I know how I got here. I do not know how to get out of here. I need to figure out how to get out of here._

How could she? All she had was a bunch of mirrors, and those couldn't do anything to help-

… Could they? Maybe they could.

* * *

"Yeah, Mrs. Christoph, Faye was just sooo tired when we got back, she crashed as soon as we got here." B stated into the cell phone, with some well-practiced lies. "I just figured I'd call and got official sleepover permission. My mom is okay with it, so…"

"If your parents are okay with it, and Faye's all right… I was expecting her back almost an hour ago."

"I know, and I'm sorry. We just had so much fun, and we're both really tired."

"Does she need me to bring her by some clothes? Or should I just-"

"Nah." B laughed, a sound that was as natural as any real one. "Faye's been over here so many times that she's left at least a couple outfits on accident. She can just wear one of those tomorrow. I'd let you talk to her, but she passed out hard."

"Alright… Well, I'll talk to her in the morning, then."

B sighed internally and set the phone down. Faye's mother really could talk, and she had wasted quite a lot of time that B could have been using to prepare and go. It had done one good thing, though. It had proven to B that Faye had not gotten home, which meant she was still at the fairgrounds, or… elsewhere. Now that the phone call was over, though, it was time to get to work.

It would take a lot of supplies for some good old fashioned breaking and entering. Wire cutters, in case they had already put the fence up. Lock picking tools, just in case. Never know when a locked door might present a problem.

Of course, it was going to be a hassle collecting all the stuff. The lock picking kit was the only thing kept in the bedroom. Everything else was spread out through the huge house. If B's mom or step-douche ever found the stuff not only would it get taken, but B would be locked in her bedroom for at least a couple of days.

No, the supplies had to be kept hidden, even if it _was_ a pain in the ass. It would only take twenty, thirty minutes top to get the stuff, then…

Hopefully Faye wasn't in too much trouble.

* * *

It took a long time to build up the nerve. Her phone still wasn't getting signal, the carnival was closed, and she only really had one idea for how to get word to B that she needed help. All she had to do was put her plan into action.

She had run several possibilities through her mind, and all of them had come up short. But… she had plenty of mirrors, and it was certainly dark enough.

She wasn't summoning the Candyman; that would be about the worst thing to do. There were a number of other mirror beings though, and after going over them in her head, she figured that if would listen to her, Bloody Mary might. Maybe. If she spoke quickly.

The girl was ready to shine her phone light in the spirit's face if not.

She stood in front of one of the mirrors and took a deep breath. No time like the present, she supposed.

"Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary…" She kept her voice slow and steady as she chanted, the name slipping out easily in a smooth rhythm. She wasn't sure how many times she had to repeat the name, but she forced herself to keep going even as doubts peppered her thoughts. What if Bloody Mary was just as or even more hostile than Candyman had been? What if she didn't hesitate before trying to attack her?

But… Beyond that surface doubt, she felt almost calm. As if some other instinct was reassuring her that this was a good idea. Or, at least, that it wasn't a bad idea. Something told her that it was going to work, all she had to do was-

She wasn't sure how many times she said the name, but she stopped once the image in the mirror slowly shifted from her own. Her silhouette changed shape, shifting, and almost brightening until it revealed a young woman. She stood at a couple of inches taller than Faye, with long brown hair that hung limply around her frame. She wore a white dress that was spattered with damp blood. She was deathly pale, which made her dark eyes and downturned mouth stand out all the more.

"Why did you summon me? I will warn you know, if it's not a good reason, I will not hesitate to claw your eyes out. I'm not a fan of my time being wasted, you know." She sounded more bored than anything else, until she added, "the hall of mirrors is a nice touch though. Much better than being summoned into a bathroom."

Faye could see sharp nails filed down to points, and it wasn't hard to take the threat seriously. The spirit eyed her with all the thrill of a student during finals week.

She explained. She told the spirit that she and her friend had been there for a carnival, and that some really bitchy ex friends had stuck here in there, and… she didn't know what else to do.

"I just want to get out of here… To be able to go home. I can't on my own, and I thought- It might not hurt to ask."

Bloody Mary stared at her for a moment, and after a moment, a small smile spread on her lips. The first show of genuine emotion she had gotten. "You certainly didn't bore me. So… I will help you on one condition."

"I can… I think it would be better if I knew what that condition was before I made any promises. If that's okay, I mean."

"… Smart girl," the spirit stated, which Faye took as a good sign. "I will help you if you promise me this; You will find out who I was." The smile on her face had gotten a little bit wider, and it… honestly did wonders to show she wasn't quite as terrifying as her first impression led Faye to believe. The smile itself was genuine, not filled with malicious sadism like she had expected it to be."

"I can… I can promise that I will do my best." The ghost reached her hand out of the mirror and, before Faye could do anything to reaction, she made a shallow cut on the girl's arm. Blood bubbled to the surface and scabbed over in a matter of seconds, inhumanly fast.

"That is a promise you cannot break. If you do… Well, no need to worry about _that_ unless it happens. Now… How do you want me to help you? I could simply bring you somewhere else, if you would like. As long as there is a mirror, it will work."

"Oh." Well, that worked out pretty well. "My best friend's room. She has, like, a wall of mirrors. Could you take me there?" That was better than a simple message. Way better.

"Picture it in your head. And… you may wish to close your eyes. The Mirror Realm is… not like yours. It may or may not adversely affect your mind. She held out her hand, and Faye hesitantly took it, giving a slight yelp as the ghost yanked her into the mirror.

It was nothing like she had expected. It was not one solidified land, but several, patchworked together in a nonsensical pattern. As the blood dripping spirit led her through lands, she learned that they weren't just appearances- One snowy land bit her face and arms with cold winds, while the next drew sweat and stung her eyes with smoke. Some were vast lands of a loose, powdery red sand, and others were lands that didn't make sense at all. Places where gravity worked upside down, and everything was tinted blue and green. And everywhere, _everywhere_ floated hundreds of thousands of mirrors.

"Just keep holding on," the spirit stated, "and you'll be safe. You might feel the effects of the lands, but you won't be harmed."

Faye was… starting to get nervous, admittedly. Sure, the spirit said she would help her, but… They had been wondering around for a long time, and she felt like walking to her friend's house would have been quicker-

Something sharp touched her throat and she froze. The only part of her that moved was her eyes, which slowly traveled down to see a familiar hooked hand.

"I didn't expect to see you here. It _has_ been a while, but I'm sure you remember-"

"Danny! Stop that. She is here as my guest."

… _Danny?_

The hook removed itself, and Faye stepped slightly closer to Mary to turn and look at the Candyman, who towered above her. In his none hooked hand, he balanced three jars of… what she assumed was honey. It _looked_ like honey, at least.

"I wasn't going to harm her. I just wanted to give her a little scare. She _did_ spray me in the face with hairspray."

"… Wait, this is the girl who did that? … She's shorter than I thought."

Faye was beginning to wonder if she should cut and run, but before she built up the nerve, Mary continued.

"She _is_ helping me now, so could you please let her off the hook? Please?"

"… That is a horrible joke, Marilyn."

"Then why are you smiling, Daniel?"

He laughed at the statement. It was a surreal sight for the living girl. She hadn't realized that killer could seem so… normal.

"I suppose I can keep from harming her," the man stated as soon as he stopped laughing. "If she does help you, she'll have my gratitude as well. Though I've told you before-"

"Knowing isn't always a good thing. I know, Danny, I know. But I'd rather know, no matter how horrible, then have to spend the rest of my afterlife not knowing. Now, I have to take her home, like I promised. And it looks like you're paying a visit to Felicity, though that is two more than usual."

"I just finish collecting these, though I am bringing one to Felicity, yes. Do you want one for your new… friend?"

The two spirits looked at her, and she held up the hand that wasn't holding onto the spirit's. "Hey, I don't- I mean, I wouldn't want to take it if it's yours, and-"

"He's offering because he's running out of space to store the jars," Mary piped up. "He has a _lot_ of bees."

"And if we _are_ going to be playing nice from now on, I suppose it might make a good peace offering." It would be rude to deny that kind of offer.

"… S-sure, then."

Another few minutes later, and the spirit gave her a light shove through one of the mirrors. She stumbled out, feet hitting the familiar hardwood floor with a loud clunk.

Almost immediately B was out of the bathroom connected to her room and she froze when she saw Faye.

"… How the hell did you get here? And why do- Is that a jar of honey?" B was dressed in dark clothes, with a backpack over her shoulder, and hair tucked up underneath a cap.

"… Hi. I, uh… made a deal with a mirror ghost for a ride home. Bloody Mary, specifically. And… We saw Candyman, and he gave me this? As a… peace offering?"

"Don't forget about your promise," came a quiet voice from the mirror. Both she and B looked back at it to see Mary hovering in the reflection. "I will not be _pleased_ if you do, and both my brother and I will make sure you regret it." She smiled, and this time the expression sent shivers down Faye's spine. Ah. _There_ was that malicious sadism that had been missing earlier. She stayed quiet as the spirit vanished, the faint glow around her fading away.

"… I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?" Faye laughed sheepishly once the ghost was and set the jar of honey down on one of the desks in B's room. Her friend just sighed and tossed her backpack back on the bed.

"Just a _bit,_ Fairy. By the way, we're having a sleepover, so that'll give you _plenty_ of time to explain all about it."


	9. Life and Death

Chapter Nine: Life and Death

"Would you look at that? We've got a new kid."

Faye looked up from the book open on her desk and rubbed her eyes. Reading was never fun for her, and even though she was using all the strategies she could, the urban legend book on her desk was giving her a headache. There were so many different theories and myths about Bloody Mary that it was hard to keep track of them all.

Plus, without evidence, she had no solid place to start. All she knew was that she was stuck in a mirror, and she wore a white dress with red stains.

… No, she did know a bit more. There was a focus on Mary's nails, she seemed just a bit older then Faye, and… Her real name was Marilyn? … Okay, that still wasn't much. Maybe she should just summon the spirit again and try to ask her for more information?

Either way, the interruption was appreciated, if she were being entirely honest with herself. It was only the first day back at school, and she hadn't done this much studying since finals the last school year. So, at her friend's comment, she looked up at the door.

The figure was standing there awkwardly, as if unsure how to hold himself. He definitely wasn't at their school last year, that was for sure. Judging by the fact that he was in their class, he probably was about their age. Faye noted that he had black hair and dark eyes. His skin was light and he was about medium height; taller than her and shorter than B. He had a very tired look about him, one that she heavily related to.

"He already looks done with everything," Faye muttered. "Poor guy. He's not gonna last a week in this hellhole of a school."

"A week? Please, I give him a day before he flips his lid." B laughed to herself, keeping it low so the new boy wouldn't hear. It was a pretty common practice between the two. Their school wasn't exactly the best school in the area, especially considering all the death that had come about lately, and there was no way that kids who weren't accustomed to the general hostility of the area would go through things calmly.

The boy took his seat and the two girls (along with everyone else in the class) casually watched how he moved. He didn't seem too tense, but he did move pretty sluggishly. It was only the first day, what wore that guy out?

"Eh, I dunno. I'm keeping at my week estimate." She shrugged and went back to scrutinizing the book. So many letters. So tiny.

B rolled her eyes and grabbed the book, pulling it away and marking the page before closing it.

"Fairy, listen. I doubt Mary's gonna hurt you if you take a break. You've been reading and researching myths about her since the day you met her, and I'm pretty sure this is the third time you've read that particular book. Look, you aren't going to make any progress unless you figure out a way to narrow it down, so why not take a break? Rest your head a little bit?"

She opened her mouth to argue, only closing it as the bell rang to start class. It was the first day, though, so not much would get done. She waited until the teacher took roll and stood to go on about the first of many syllabus lessons they all would get before turning slightly to whisper to her friend.

"I can't help it! I need something to focus on that's not mortal terror. I mean, I don't know who are what is gonna show up next, and neither do you. Plus, you said you'd help me after I explained everything. If I remember right, you said you'd throw me back into the mirror if I didn't let you help me. And she said… The deal was I had to try my best- if I don't do that… Well, I don't know what's going to happen. Plus…" She bit at the scar inside of her cheek and fidgeted with a pencil as she paused, tuning out the teacher's failing attempts at hooking up the overhead.

"What if _nobody_ comes? What if you've reached the maximum killer quota and you never see another one as long as you live? And I _have_ been helping, Fairy. But after reading the same damn books three or four times, we aren't getting anywhere." B folded her arms and stared ahead, though Faye could tell that she was still talking to her.

"I guess… I kind of have mixed feeling it. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's some of those guys I never wanna see again, but… I'd like to see Jason on a day where he isn't killing people, and I know you're looking forward to Beyond Birthday showing up again. Don't even try and deny it."

"I can understand that much," B stated while entirely ignoring the latter half of the statement. "Why do you think you've been running into so many killers anyway? I mean, it's one thing to run into one a few times, that kinda stuff makes sense. Sequels, you know? But… Why so many different ones?"

"I don't know! Bad luck? I… really don't know. I feel like there's some kind of explanation, but I have no idea what it could be, or how I'm supposed to find out. And… I'm _tired."_

"Believe me, I relate to that."

Faye offered her an apologetic smile- perhaps that wasn't the best complaint to throw at an insomniac. As another sort of apology, she grabbed the urban legend book and shoved it into her backpack, taking out her sketchbook and hunching over it. She was pretty sure her friend wouldn't mind another picture of Beyond Birthday, and now that Faye had seen him in person, it would be even easier to capture his likeness with paper and pencil.

* * *

B studied Faye as her hand moved over the page, bringing lines and circles into focus as an individual. It wasn't hard to read Faye, not to someone who had known her since the first grade, anyway. The girl held a lot of tension in her shoulders, there were circles under her eyes that rivaled the ones under B's own eyes, and she seemed to have lost several pounds. Faye wasn't sleeping, didn't seem to be eating, and really wasn't taking care of herself, and while B understood depression, that didn't mean that it was something to just… watch happen. Especially not to Faye.

Finally, the projector light came on, though Faye kept at her drawing. Everyone knew the first day of school didn't really matter, just like the last day of school.

"We will continue this later, Fairy. It's an important conversation."

* * *

"So, would you care to explain why you were taking bets on me?" A deep male voice with an accent that was _distinctly_ Scottish startled her, and she slammed her locked shut, turning to see the new kid looming over her. His tone didn't suggest anger, though. If anything, he seemed almost amused at the prospect of that betting.

"It's… a stupid friend thing," she responded as she turned back to her locker and started putting the number in again. Damn whatever his name was, startling her. "We tend to take best on how long it takes for a new kid to freak out in our lovely little school. It's actually pretty easy to do, so… We're waiting to see how long it takes before you break down sobbing in class, or punch somebody. Or both. Both happened at the same time once."

"Same person, or two different people at the same time?"

"Nope, same person. Freaked out, cried, and punched someone right in the throat." She opened the locker door and grabbed her lunch. "Eventually someone is probably going to piss you off with something and you're going to flip on them."

"You think you could define 'something' or are you just gonna leave it vague?" He stepped back to give her enough space to close her locker door and maneuver a bit.

"Well… You're a foreign exchange student, so you're going to get a mix of people who only like you because they think your accent is cute, and those who don't like you because of that. A lot of people are gonna make fun of those wonderful stereotypes from… Well, you sound Scottish, but I never was the best at accents."

"You'd be right, actually. Though… you may wish to increase your bet. It takes much more than simple mockery to annoy me, even if the jokes are poking fun at my country."

Faye raised an eyebrow but shrugged and reached up to brush some of her long black hair out of her face. "If you say so. But eventually they'll figure out something to get under your skin. Anyway, I gotta get going, but… I'll see you around, I guess?"

The boy thought about that and nodded. "Sure, why not? … My name is Alex, by the way." He held out his hand, which Faye shook quickly.

"Call me Faye."

"Faye, huh?" The boy snickered. "All you need is a pixie cut and you could make a good Fairy-"

"Aaaaand that nickname is already taken, thank you very much. I'd suggest sticking to Faye, lest you invoke the Wrath of B."

"Wrath of B? Sounds like a B horror movie."

There was a long pause as the pun seeped into both of their heads, and Faye just shook her head and turned to walk away.

"Oh come on! That was a great joke!"

"Bye, Alex, catch you later."

* * *

Faye met back with her friend at lunch. Faye held a brown bag with all sorts of things she'd brought from home, and B had… a small jar of jam and a spoon.

"You know," Faye began as she pulled out her sandwich and tore open the plastic baggie it was in. "Even if you want to emulate a certain someone, you _really_ don't have to eat like him."

"So, you got into a conversation with the new kid, huh?" She retrieved a spoon from her pocket and opened the jar with a satisfying 'pop,' followed by stirring it a bit. "Did you happen to catch his name?"

"You could talk to him yourself, you know."

"But you already did, Fairy!"

"You really need to get a little bit more social, you know. Anyway, his name is Alex, and he's from Scotland. On that note, I want to extend my bet a bit. Maybe a week and a half or two weeks."

" _Two_ weeks? Really? I doubt that. Come on, Fairy, you've met the kids in this school. I could almost buy all the horror movie shit just because of how stupid most of them are." She shoved a large spoonful of the jam into her mouth, and Faye winced, her teeth hurting just from the sight of that much sugar entering a mouth all at once.

"Eh," she continued after swallowing the mouthful. "I still only give him a day or two, and you know-"

"Now see," a male voice interrupted, "this must be why my ears keep burning today. You two just keep on talking about me. It's almost flattering. Mind if I sit?"

"Oh, we aren't the only ones talking," Faye stated. "Go on ahead, though, sit at the freak show table.

B grinned and raised another spoonful of jam in agreement. "It'll be interesting to have someone other than the two of us sitting here for a change."

"Thanks," came the response as he sat down, setting his plastic tray in front of himself. "Table of freaks, huh? Is that just because of the dining choices? Because, honestly, I have seen much worse than the jar of-"

"It's because _those two_ are freaks," came Charlotte's voice as she passed by, shooting B and Faye both nasty looks. "You should come sit with me and Alison, Alex. Those two are some weird cultists or-"

B turned her gaze onto Charlotte with a look that Faye was almost sure actually could kill if sustained for too long. She gave a startled noise that sounded strangely like a mouse squeak and hurried off, almost dropping her milk carton in the process. B shrugged and went back to stabbing at the jam in the jar, though she seemed a tad more annoyed about it.

Faye turned back to Alex, who seemed confused by the encounter and shrugged halfheartedly.

"That's what everyone in the school thinks about us, anyway. We aren't _really_ cultists-"

"Speak for yourself."

"Now you're just _trying_ to freak him out, B. Stop it." She got a cheeky grin in response before she continued. "We aren't cultists, though we both do like horror, a lot."

Alex stared at them both for a long moment, as if debating whether or not to grab his stuff and go. Finally, though, he shrugged and settled down.

"So how long does B think I'll make it before my epic freak out, huh?"

"A day or two." She turned to her friend to add that "he heard us talking and wanted an explanation for it, so I told him what was going on."

"Of course he did," came the response with a roll of the eyes. "Did you tell him that the kids in our school are almost all either dumbasses or egotistical brats?"

"Something like that. He said that it took a lot to annoy him-"

"He is _also_ sitting right here, and it just so happened that he can talk for himself, you know." There was a bit of irritation under the Scottish accent, and B turned to raise an eyebrow at him.

"If that much annoys you, then it really will only take a day or two, and that means I'm gonna win this."

"… Sorry, hate it break it to you, but you're wrong there. I am going to force myself to remain calm just because of this little bet of yours." He grinned. "What's the wager anyway? Can I bet on myself?"

"Loser buys pizza next time we do a movie night. And no, you can't just bet on yourself. You'd be able to rig the results, and that's just cheating."

"Fine. So what about if I last longer than the both you think, huh? How about then?"

Faye tuned out the bickering, as amusing as it was to listen to. She had some more important things to deal with, like narrowing down Bloody Mary's true identity, or planning ahead for whatever other nasty surprise might show up.

* * *

It wasn't until she got back to the privacy of her own bedroom that she retrieved a hand mirror from under her pillow. She had started to keep it there after the first vacation, just in case she needed it for a Freddy related incident, and it had proven to come in handy for Mary.

She made sure her room was dark, lit a candle that she'd taken to keeping nearby so she could see her notes, and began the chant.

"Did you find anything?" The ghost cut her off mid chant, appearing in the mirror as if she had been waiting, which… Well, she might have, honestly. Faye didn't know what the ghost did in her free time. Still, it caught her off guard, and she had to take a second to gather her thoughts.

"I haven't figured anything out definitively. There are a lot of stories about you, and most of them are contradictory, and it's, uh… It's a bit hard to sort them all out. So nothing for sure yet."

"So, why'd you call me, then?" The ghosts face knitted into something easily recognizable as disappointment, and Faye hurried to continue before she got upset or pissed. She had heard enough stories to be able to convince herself that Mary could and would claw for her eyes if necessary, and she didn't want to go out that way.

"I just wanted to ask you a few things, to see if you had any memories that might be able to help me narrow things down. I think if I can do that, then I might be able to at least narrow it down enough to… bring a short list. Maybe you could see what feels right, then?"

"I don't remember _anything,_ Faye." Mary reached up to wipe a couple of beads of blood from her eyes and sighed. "Look, if I did remember anything, even a little bit, I'd be happy to help, but-"

"I don't need that kind of remembering, actually."

"Excuse me?"

"What I mean," the living girl hurried to correct herself, "is that I don't need you to remember solid memories. If you can't remember, you can't remember, and I don't think I have anything to trigger a memory."

"… I am not following, Faye."

"I need things like… habits. Quirks. Things that you just do that you can't explain, fears that you don't know why you have. Anything like that."

"…" The ghost hesitated for a second, before nodding. "I… How do I know you aren't trying to use these questions to mess with me? The last thing I need is to be stuck somewhere because you wanted to try to back out of our deal, you know."

"I _really_ think that it will help. Here, let me explain." She hesitated, for a moment. "I… And please never tell anyone this, but I really, really hate ladders and stairs and such. I'm always worried that I'm going to fall, because… One time I did fall. I fell and I woke up somewhere else with my parents freaking out over me, and it was terrifying. So… things you do or feel or fear without realizing it… might give some hints. Plus, so far you're one of the nicest people I've met who's also lowkey threatened to kill me, so I'd actually really like to help, you know? … Especially If it means you won't try to kill me later on."

The spirit was almost smiling at that point, though… not quite. As if she wanted to be amused, but she couldn't let herself. "Very well, Faye." She shut her eyes and exhaled, fogging up the other side of the glass. "I hate enclosed spaces. I hate them more than anything else. It's why I get angry when I'm needlessly summoned. It feels like I'm trapped in the confines of whatever mirror I'm in, unless I get permission to move around and do as I please."

"… So I… shouldn't have summoned you to a hand mirror, then?"

"No, no, I am fine right now. You did not actually summon me, since you never finished the chant. I simply showed up. Though… As the case may be, if you simply call my name without the 'Bloody' part, you can get my attention just as easily, and I get to _choose_ to answer. More like… a phone call, rather than anything else."

"Okay. Secondly… Can I see one of your hands?"

"A strange request, but sure. Hold the mirror back just a touch, okay?"

Faye complied, and a dainty pale hand reached out. Faye carefully took, idly noting the cold skin, and contrasting warm liquid that she really didn't want to think about too much. The nails were long, sharp, and each looked much the same as the last. Damn. There went her hunch.

Unless…

"Your nails are really long now. Have they always been like this, or-?"

"They still grow, and I sharpen then often."

"… When you first… became aware that you were a ghost, if that's the right wording, what did they look like then?"

Her hand flickered and changed, most notably the nails. The two on her index and middle fingers were completely missing, leaving only bloody pools where they used to be. The other nails were cracked, broken, and worn down to the stubs. That was more like what she had been expecting to see, and if she was right about her theory…

"Is this helping, anyway?"

"Actually, yes. A lot. Can I list a few things, see if you hit on any of them?"

"Yes. Hit me with whatever questions you have."

"Close your eyes."

The spirit hesitated, but shut her eyes after withdrawing her hand back into the mirror.

"Smells." She hesitated as she grabbed her list and flipped through. She didn't want any confirmation bias, though between the claustrophobia and the nails, she had a good idea of the story that might be true. Still, she had to be careful. "The smell of smoke and metal? Does that bring anything back?"

"…" Even with her eyes closed, Faye could see the disappointment in the way Mary's mouth fell. "No. That doesn't sound too familiar. I'm sorry."

"That's fine. I'm trying to help you out here, and I still have stuff on the list to go through. So, let's see…" Something a bit closer? "How about the smells of trees and flowers?"

There was a quiet hum from the spirit. "I think… something like that. It might have been close?"

"Okay. The smell of wood planks and-"

"Dirt." The response came in before she could finish the statement. "There was dirt there, beyond the wood. And it was… Everywhere." The spirit opened her eyes. "I couldn't see it. But… I _could_ smell it."

She had to admit that she hadn't expected the 'sensory therapy' to actually work. She had expected the ghost to veto that one too. If she kept going with it, though, maybe she'd actually nail the answer.

"What about sounds, or feelings? Any of those?"

"… I heard scratching. There was really close scratching, and…"

* * *

Everything was dark.

There was a surreal haze about everything, and she shivered violently as she banged her fists against the wood above her. She tried to scream, but the only sounds she could make were weak, pitiful. She couldn't be heard on the other side of a door, let alone…

She knew where she was, but she didn't want to admit it. Her fingers clawed uselessly at the wood, and she coughed violently. Her already burning throat tore even more.

She wasn't dead yet. She wasn't! She had heard stories about being trapped in coffins, but she never… she never thought it would happen to her. They were supposed to put something, a tube, a string, a bell-

The girl shoved her hands against the coffin lid, scrabbling for anything that might alert anyone outside to her presence.

There was nothing.

Why wouldn't they put anything? Why would they-

… Because she was sick. She was sick, and they didn't want it to get to anyone else.

She rested against the floor of the coffin. She felt dizzy, and tired. Oh, so very tired. Maybe if she just slept for a little while, she could build up more strength. If she could… just…

* * *

Faye watched Mary. She… hadn't moved much. She breathed in, ragged and shaky breaths. Her arms were wrapped around her shoulders, and her eyes looked almost glazed over. Faye… wasn't sure if what she had said had helped, or made things much worse. Pale red streaks dripped from her eyes.

Finally, after a long few moments, the spirit shook her head and turned back to look at her. She reached a hand up to wipe the mix of tears and blood off her cheek.

"… I remember, though… I am beginning to think that perhaps… my brother was correct, and I should not have sought out those memories. Thank you, though. I… I think I need some time to myself, now."

Faye nodded. "Take whatever time you need. I'll keep this mirror on hand, in case you ever want to talk, okay? I'll be around."

"Very well. I'll… keep an eye on things. But I- … I don't know-"

"Go and get some rest or… whatever you need to do to deal with this."

The spirit nodded and faded from view. Faye set the mirror down on her bedside table and sighed. That had… That had gotten intense.

* * *

The night was quiet and dark; the streetlights that usually illuminated the road dull and lifeless. The air was still, and the stars that were visible in the sky twinkled over the town.

A faint breeze picked up, bouncing leaves and dirt particles and old scraps of poster the tore loose of the tape keeping them in place. The silence of the night was shattered as a loud crackling echoed into the air, and a bright flash illuminated the area as what appeared to be a ball of electricity sparked into existence. It grew, larger and larger, and after just a few seconds the light crackled once more and faded, leaving behind a small crater and a large and muscular naked man.

He slowly stood and stretched, testing each muscle to make sure that they worked, that the time travel hadn't ripped anything apart. Once he had assured himself that everything was working, he looked around, scanning the area until his eyes caught on a store. He moved surprisingly quickly for someone of his size, and he didn't pause as he slammed a fist through the window, ignoring the crashing, the class, the siren that shrieked into the air, and grabbing the biggest set of clothes. The only size that would fit his frame.

When he stepped out, he was dressed in mostly leather, a pair of sunglasses resting on his face as if they were made for him. He was almost ready to start his assignment.

All he needed now was a gun.

* * *

In the early morning when few people were awake, even before the sun had risen and no light was visible through the windows of the school, the field behind the building was still smoldering from the arrival of the second visitor. He had no need to hunt for clothes; once he broke free of the membrane that had allowed him to trick to the time travel device into reading him as organic, he simply shifted his skin to take on the form of simple clothes. He was covered in seconds.

It was early, but not too early for a teacher who had labs to set up for the day. He walked to the door and picked the lock, though he wasn't sure how much this could be considered lockpicking when all it took was for the metal to reshape into a key.

The secondary target he was after was one Edward Randels. Age forty-three, in fair health, a science teacher and football coach. One teacher of his primary target.

Fayora Christoph.

He opened the door and stepped in, following an internal map until he arrived at the room. The man looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Can I… help you?" The visitor tilted his head and walked forward. "If you're a parent, you should schedule an appointment with the office. I have a lot of work to do to prepare for-"

The next noises to come out of him were wet gasps as he tried to scream. His lungs were filling with blood too quickly, though, and the air was replaced by red flecks that splattered onto the machines face.

He pulled his arm back, flexing the fingers as they reformed. His form melted back into metal, sending the rest of the blood into a puddle on the floor. In seconds, the machine matched the body on the floor.

He had to hurry. School was going to start in a very short amount of time, and he had a body to remove and blood to clean.

* * *

School the next day was dull and slow. B was out, possibly taking one of her personal days, and as interesting as Alex seemed to be, she only actually had two classes with the guy. Well, at least he would help pass time during lunch?

She sighed and doodled on her formula chart. Learning formulas on the second day? Boring.

"Miss Christoph, pay attention." Her teacher tapped her shoulder as he passed by. "You're practicing with the formulas, not drawing."

She waited until he moved on before going right back to doodling.

Maybe the general apathy was because it was Tuesday, and nobody was recovered from Monday yet? Maybe that was it-

"Fayora Christoph, to the office with your things," chirped the usually pleasant voice of the secretary. Though… now she sounded almost… too pleasant? As if she were forcing the cheer even more than she normally did.

She could feel eyes on her as she gathered her notebooks and shoved them into her backpack. It had been easier throughout the summer to avoid people.

… Mostly, anyway.

Getting back to school had been the same as usual, so far, though… Why would her parents be picking her up on the second day? She didn't have any doctor's appointments that she knew of, nor could she see any other reason-

Unless someone died. Had someone died? That would be the only reason she could think of. Anxiety swirled in her stomach as she stepped out of the classroom and walked down the hall, footsteps clicking along the tiles.

She stepped around that led to the office and froze.

There was a man there, and though he was nobody she had ever met before, she still recognized him. Tall, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain actor and governor. He was dressed all in leather, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses that were leveled at her.

He was holding a gun. The secretary was trembling in her seat. The only reasons she didn't duck back around the corner was because the gun… wasn't aimed at her. He was holding it down, to the side. Still, while she couldn't tell what kind of gun it was, but it was big, and it looked intimidating. If that thing was fired at her-

… She didn't think she'd make it.

"Fayora Christoph?" That was her name. She swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to lift her legs to get herself moving, but she couldn't force herself to do anything. Damnit, she should be beyond this.

"Why- Why do you want to know?"

"You are in danger. You must come with me." She shook her head and finally moved to take a step back when the machine lunged forward and grabbed her shirt, throwing her back behind him.

She landed hard on her side, and from her position on the floor she could see that where she had been standing not a second before, a blade was in the air. Following it down, it became an arm, one that was attached to-

Mr. Randles? Her… Chemistry teacher? No. No, she knew where this was going. She knew-

The girl stood up and tucked herself behind the first one, grabbing onto a fistful of jacket to let the one that wasn't intent on killing her know where she was so he wouldn't need to look back. As she did that, he lifted gun and she had just enough time to cover an ear and bury the other in her shoulder before the shots rang out. They did little to stop the advancing doppelganger, however, however; they only slowed him down for a half a second each.

"Run." It was a simple statement, and when she didn't move, he added on, "get into the black car."

It didn't take any more convincing. That thing was after her, which meant… If she could just leave, then the people at the school, at least, would be safe enough.

She ran out the front doors of the school and to the idling black car parked in front of the school. She hesitated for just a moment before lunging for the driver's side door. While she was taking a driver's ed class, they hadn't gotten any further then buckling seat belts and not running light.

Still, she had a little bit of practice, and the Terminator had the gun, which meant… She was driving. She buckled the seat belt, slammed her foot into the break, and threw the car into drive. Okay, this was going well.

It took only a few more seconds for the hulking figure to slip into the passenger seat, and as soon as door closed, she tapped the gas, pulling out of the parking lot and pushing harder.

Though they were picking up speed, they weren't out of the woods; the other machine, which she internally categorized as… Dickhole- Well, she needed _something_ to distinguish them, and B would approve of it, anyway.

Dickhole was quick. He was catching up with them despite the fact that she was pretty sure she was speeding, in what might have been a stolen car.

… No, it was _definitely_ a stolen car.

Thankfully since she was driving, he could lower the window- Or smash it. Smashing it worked just as well, she guessed. He half climbed out of the window, took up the gun, and fired it three times.

The first shot nailed their pursuer in the stomach, and he partially doubled over, allowing the next bullet to drill into his head. The final shot went lot, whether on purpose or accident, and hit the machine in the knee. The last shot took out most of the limb, and he collapsed.

The other Terminator, the good one, which she mentally dubbed 'Arnie,' (another name B would be proud of), pulled himself back into the car. He sat down and leaned back against the seat, pointing the gun out the window and reloading it as she drove.

There was silence for about half a second before she took a deep breath and let loose the questions that had been building up since she was called to the office.

"Where are we going? What the hell is going on? … Okay, I know to a degree what was going on. You're both Terminators, Skynet wants me dead for some reason, you're reprogrammed- Am I in the right general area here?"

"Surprisingly, yes." He was staring at rearview mirror as he spoke.

She could only figure that it was to keep an eye out for the other one.

"Okay. So… Why? That one was, a, uh-"

"Model T One Thousand."

"Right, that. I'm calling him Dickhole. So Dickhole is after me, but why? What could I do to affect whatever goals Skynet has for the future?" Something to do with John Connor was all she could figure.

"… You indirectly saved their primary termination target, John Connor, by causing the indirect death of a separate T One Thousand model that was sent to kill him."

If she weren't focused on driving, she would turn to look at him. "I killed a terminator?"

"Indirectly."

She took another deep breath. "Okay. Okay, understood. Where are we going, again?"

"To the nearest place you can pull over. From there, I will take over driving and bring you to a safe house up north."

"So how did I kill it?" If she was going to do this, then she wanted to know how. She was not about to screw up the timeline.

"You misdirected it and had it sent somewhere to be killed by a man that cannot be killed."

"… Could you be more specific?"

"You lied to it and sent it Camp Crystal Lake. It died there."

That actually made a lot of sense, and she was proud of Jason for whatever he did to get rid of it.

"Jason must have killed it, someh-" She cut herself off as she realized- B hadn't come to school. B didn't know about what happened. She pulled over into a gas station parking lot and grabbed her backpack as soon as the car was parked. She dug through and pulled out her phone, only for Arnie to grab it, crush it in his hand, and throw it out the window.

"What the- Okay, look, I _need_ to warn my friend."

"It can trace cellular phones." He brushed the plastic bits off his hand. "If you use one, he will find you."

"In that case, we need to go and get her!"

"Negative. The T One Thousand will anticipate that. She is likely already dead."

She followed her arms and shook her head. "No. I need to get in contact with her, either from a burner phone or a pay phone or-"

"A payphone would likely work."

She nodded and got out of the car, hurrying over to the payphone with the terminator following on her heels. B was taking a personal day, so she might not even answer, especially because it was a weird number. She just had to hope that the other girl would understand that this was an emergency and-

"Hallo?"

"Oh, thank God. Okay, B, you have to be very careful, okay?"

"… Fairy, 's that you? Are you okay? What the fuck did I miss at school?"

She was there, and that was enough for Faye.

"I'm fine, but… Well, my bad luck is still going."

"Who is it now? Someone I have to beat up-" She was cut off by a buzzing from the other end of the phone. "Oh, doorbell. Keeping talking, Fairy, that's probably the pizza I ordered."

There were footsteps next, quick ones.

"B, don't answer!"

There was a pause. "You think that it's the-"

Her friend was cut off by the sound of rapid gunfire, and she could only imagine what happened. B walked to the door, spoke to show that she was on the other side of it, and she was close enough, so-

"B? BB? Pick the damn phone back up, Blessings! …"

There was no answer from the other line. She hung up the phone and squeezed her eyes shut. Somehow… It wasn't hitting as hard as she thought it would.

No. It wasn't hitting _yet._ She knew what was going on. There was still danger, so her body was shutting down, locking out the grief and fear and pain until she could handle it safely. To do that, though, she had to survive this.

She opened her eyes, steeled herself, and turned to Arnie.

"You're a terminator too. What's going to happen next? What would you do if you were it?"

"I would either come after you disguised as your friend or go after your family, if it has not already. I would want to cut as many ties as I could to give you fewer places to run. It is mostly likely to come after us."

Her parents _were_ busy people, and it would be much more difficult to blend in if he went after them. That and… Well, she'd been growing distant from them lately. Maybe in the future she didn't talk to them at all, which was a sad thought.

"Fine. Where do we go now?"

"Up north," he replied. He grabbed her shoulder, gently, and led her back to the car. Faye allowed herself to be moved, and as soon as she was in the passenger's seat and safely buckled in, she shut her eyes and focused on breathing deeply. She couldn't let the reality of the situation to come crashing in, not yet.

* * *

She woke up when she was slammed against the car door. She grabbed for anything bolted to the car that she could hold onto as the vehicle jerked a second time. Items flew around the car, and she screamed as an explosion rang out, before realizing that it was just the gun being fired.

She held on tightly as the car tilted to the side, crashing down on her side of the door. She was pressed into it, and Arnie was holding himself up to keep from crushing her. He kicked a leg forward, knocking the windshield clean out of the car. Faye unbuckled herself and crawled free of the car, flinching as glass fragments dug into her skin. Arnie was out just after her, and he grabbed her by the arm and hoisted her up to her feet. She turned to look at the wreckage and-

"Jeez, Fairy! I come to save your ass from the murder bots, and this is what happens?" B was standing next to another car, one with a crumpled front. That car had been what crashed into them. The girl stared her down with mismatched eyes, and she felt tears welling in her eyes. She was…

Such an identical copy.

"Stop crying, Fairy. I'm fine, I'm right here, I'm-"

"Shut up! You aren't my friend! I never told her what was going on, and you- Just shut up!"

The girl looked surprised, but her face narrowed and she stepped forward. She didn't get far, though, before Arnie lifted the gun and fired. The silver marks that appeared just confirmed the suspicion.

She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to handle what had just happened, and in the end, she did the only thing that she could do.

She picked a direction and ran.

* * *

Faye was quick and had enough stamina to get away, especially with Arnie fighting Dickhole. She realized after maybe fifteen minutes of running that she had no way to contact Arnie; he and the other would have to track her down again, and she…

If the bad one caught up to her first, she'd be dead.

She finally stopped and leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. She had no idea where she was or how to get back, no phone to call anybody, no wallet, no… well, nothing.

What should she do?

… First, she had to find somewhere safe. Somewhere she could sit down that wouldn't be easily found. Or, hell, just inside and off the street. She glanced around, eyes stopping on a door that seemed almost set into the wall. Other than the handle, it looked like a painting. Even better, there were no windows.

It was a couple of blocks down the street and across the road, so she started walking. Get there, take a rest, and then figure out how to destroy the terminator.

She remembered that there were very few ways to do it, though. In the end, they'd had to throw it into molten metal to-

Molten metal. Heat.

There had been hundreds of lands in the Mirror Realm, but one of them… Yes, one had been a land of heat. And Mary, well, she was already dead. The terminator couldn't hurt her. Oh, but her hand mirror was in her backpack, and it there was no way it escaped being shattered.

Maybe whoever was in what she now realized was a game store, as evident by the "More Games" sign that hung above it, would have a mirror. Yes. Go in, ask for a mirror, summon Mary, and then beg for her help.

She opened the door, listening to a cheerful bell jingle as she stepped in. There were games everywhere. Some of them were very familiar; Monopoly, Life, Clue… Others were still somewhat familiar. An open board with a bunch of little marble things, though she didn't remember the name of it. Other games she had no idea about, but that looked interesting. Maybe if she came by later, she might pick one up.

"Can I help you?"

She spun to see a counter buried past tables with displays on them. The boy she saw was familiar- She was pretty sure she'd seen him around school before. He always looked almost like someone who had stepped out of an old picture. He had a black jacket over a grey shirt, pale skin and hair that she was almost certain would blend in perfectly with snowfall. The only color to him was his eyes, which were a shade of bright blue that she didn't think she would be able to match with any paint or pencil.

"I need a mirror."

He paused, as if caught off guard. "This is… a game store. I don't sell mirrors, here."

Shit. "Well, do you have any laying around? Any in the bathroom, or-?"

He took a second to look her over, and she knew that she had to look like a wreck, even if she was beyond _caring_ about it. She could feel stinging cuts all over her body, and she was sure that her clothes were tattered, and possibly a bit singed.

Whatever it was, he seemed to take pity on her, because he nodded.

"Let me check the back. Until then… I have a first aid kit behind the counter."

"Thank you." She smiled as he turned and made his way through the maze of boxes. The girl ducked behind the counter, found the little red zipped bag, and sighed. Well, time to cover herself antibiotic gel.

* * *

He didn't have any mirrors. Damnit!

He had to admit, he had been… thrown off. He hadn't been expecting Faye to show up, especially not looking… injured. He had a very careful plan, and this was _not_ part of it.

A mirror. If she was here dead set on a mirror, then a mirror was what she would get. She had proven to be able to handle things herself, but-

Why didn't he keep any mirrors!?

His eyes caught on a door, and he hesitated. There… _were_ mirrors in there, that was true, but he didn't want to disturb it too much before the game began.

But… she _needed_ it. So, he opened the door and stepped in. Taking a single mirror out wouldn't do much if any harm, and he doubted anybody would even notice.

* * *

"I found a hand mirror in the back."

Faye looked up from where she was bandaging one of the worst of the cuts she'd picked up from the crash. It was a hand mirror, one that looked like something straight out of a Victorian era film.

She grabbed it and sighed in relief. "Thank you, thank you so much. I swear, I can explain. But can you turn the lights off, first?"

He raised an eyebrow at the request, and she sighed and looked at the mirror. "… I'll explain everything when this is done, but I don't know how much time we have. So please, just… turn out the light?"

"… Alright. I'll lock the door too."

The lights shut off, and after a moment she felt a sort of presence that indicated the guy was next to her. She tilted the mirror back until she could make out her silhouette and… hesitated, for a second. She wasn't sure if she should _summon_ the ghost, or just… call her.

After a few seconds of hesitation, she let out the breath she'd been holding. "Mary? Mary, if you're listening to this, I really need your help."

"I'm not sure this is-" The boy next to her began, but she shushed him. No time to be polite.

"Mary, please, I-"

The mirror shifted. A glow emitted from it as the dark shapes swirled and lightened until the ghost was there. She blinked and tilted her head at the girl. She looked much the same as normal, which Faye took as a good sign. Maybe she'd had enough time to sit on her thoughts?

"Hello, Faye. I didn't expect you to call me so soon, but… it seems urgent. What's the matter?"

"Okay, so, uh… I'm just gonna lay it out here. There's a killer robot from the future after me, and very few things can kill him. One of the few things is molten metal or lava, and that is in short supply around here."

"… So, you want me to pull him in here and drop him into a lava puddle?" She did not seem at all perturbed by the idea, and Faye had to remind herself that she did have a tendency to claw people's eyes out.

Other than her own, thankfully.

"I don't know what I can offer you, I- … Do you have any other life mysteries you've been wanting to solve?"

"… No." The response got a slight laugh from the spirit. "But… I would love something to do. It gets rather dull here, when I'm not being pestered."

"So, a book, a puzzle, a-"

Something heavy slammed into the door. All three glanced over to it, and Mary piped up with, "I am sure we can work out the details later."

"Right." Faye turned to the game shop owner. "You should get to the back again. It's gonna get dangerous here in a few seconds."

"What? No, I can-"

"Unless you're stab proof, please, go? I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."

He hesitated. "Are you… sure you two can handle this?"

"Easily," Mary responded from the mirror. "All she has to do is get him close to the mirror."

"… Very well. Be careful."

Once the other left, she stepped out from behind the counter, wielding the mirror. "Okay. Do I just hold you out at him, or?"

"Set the mirror on the floor, and get him to step near it. I have an idea for dealing with him, and that is all you need to do."

"Right, okay." She set the mirror down between her and the door and stepped back.

* * *

He knew where his target was.

He had placed a small amount of his own liquid metal on her, and it was something he was keenly aware of.

And as soon as he had finished smashing in the head of the T Eight Hundred, he set out to find her. She was remaining in one spot, which made it much easier on him.

As soon as he arrived at the door that should have the girl behind it according to his tracking, he tested it. The door was locked, so he slammed his shoulder into it. Once, twice, and on the third hit, the door fell away.

His eyes did not need to adjust to the dark; he simply switched his eyes to night vision mode, and there she was. Tucked underneath a table with a pile of old board games on them. It always seemed to end this way; humans would try to run and fight, and when they tired of that, they would cower and plead.

It never affected them.

He walked forward, his arm melting into a long, thin blade as he approached the girl. He lifted it and-

"It might suit you to pay more attention."

The voice came from below him. He looked down just in time to see things that looked like ropes but moved like snakes shoot out from a small handheld mirror and wrap around his legs, up around his body and his arms.

He used the sword to try and hack through the ropes, but they grew around the weapon and held it in place. He felt a tug, and the living ropes dragged him down, into-

Into the mirror? How could- This wasn't possible, not by any laws of physics. He could see someone below him, a girl, and he formed the leg closest to her into a quickly growing blade that went through her head easily. Her only reaction, however, was to laugh. Nothing should be able to take a stab so easily through the skull- nothing… Human, anyway.

"You cannot kill what is already dead." With that statement, there was another pull, and the T One Thousand vanished into the mirror.

* * *

Faye watched as the machine vanished into a mirror, and after a few long minutes of silence, she stood and walked to the mirror. For a couple of moments, it was dark. Finally, however, the spirit appeared and the mirror ghost was smiling up at her.

"Hello, Faye. That thing is gone now. I disposed of him in a large lake of lava and waited until he stopped shrieking before I came back. Even if he did someone manage to survive, he's trapped here. You're safe now."

Oh, thank _God._ Those things were really hard to kill, and hearing that Mary had taken care of it was a relief.

"Thank you _so_ much. So… Uh… Entertainment? Do you want a book, or a game?" She paused and glanced around. "I could probably buy one for you here."

"I'd actually rather enjoy company." She laughed at what Faye could only assume was the horrified expression on her face. "Oh, don't look so scared. I'm not going to drag you in here and keep you trapped with me. But that land of the living seems to have changed so much since I've been there. I would enjoy hearing about it, if you'd be willing to talk to me?"

"Okay. Well, that works out pretty well. Maybe I can even get B to-"

The words stuck in her throat. In the heat of trying to escape dying, she… she hadn't had the time to let what had happened really hit her. And in a way, she still couldn't believe it. Her best friend was-

"…" Mary reached out a hand and patted her knee. "I think it's time for you to get home, Faye."

"Y-yeah. I…" She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself in a not very soothing mockery of a hug. "Hey, uh… Sorry, I never caught your name," she called out, hoping the guy who ran the place could hear her. "I- I'm going home. I'll come by later to… explain."

She turned and walked out the door. It was going to be a long walk, but… maybe she could use it to clear her head.

* * *

Beatrice Blessing's funeral was a week later. They had needed the time to perform an autopsy, preserve her, and get her into a coffin. Faye was there to say goodbye to her best friend, the one who had stuck for her through everything, and… who had gotten killed because of that.

And the entire time, she could hear whispers.

Most of the people from school blamed her, somehow. Even if few of them had actually arrived at the funeral. Alison was there, and she made a big show of sobbing over the coffin as if she had lost her one true love. The only other girl her age who looked at all distraught instead of as if they were only there for the drama was a dark-skinned girl with purple hair and clothes. Alex was there, though she didn't feel like talking to him yet. B's mother seemed honestly and truly distraught, though her stepfather- or stepdouche as they oh so 'lovingly' called him, seemed more bored than anything.

There were only a few people who weren't wearing black. Two of them were sitting across the way, their bodies encased in white, and she could feel their eyes occasionally on her. Glaring. She wasn't sure who they were, though she wasn't sure she wanted to, either.

Her own parents had sat next to her, one on each side. Her mother had an arm wrapped around her, and her father had held her hand.

The only thing of note that happened during the funeral was that, on the way out, she bumped into a tall man who looked down at her and-

… She had been given a lot of dirty looks before, but she suddenly realized that she had never been looked at with pure unadulterated hatred. She wanted to turn away, but there was something about the gaze that held her there. It wasn't the amount of the hatred, no, it was the painfully familiar mismatched eyes.

She held his gaze for a second more before her mother ushered her out, and though the gaze stuck to her for a few minutes, the occurrence still couldn't break through the dull haze that sheltered whatever part of her brain was responsible for emotions.

Finally the funeral was over, and her parents brought her home and tucked her into bed.

She felt numb. Even after a week, the reality hadn't actually settled in, even though everything was different. Even her own room felt different. It was emptier, somehow, emptier and bleaker.

What was she supposed to do now? She didn't _know._ How was she even going to get through the rest of her life without her best friend there with her? How was she-

Something glinted outside her window, the sun reflecting off something shiny just right her it to make her flinch. She dragged herself out of bed and walked over to her window.

There was something red tucked away in a long-rotted hole in the tree that a resident crow used as a nest. Red and shiny. Her heart stopped for a moment, then took off in a beat that would be alarmingly fast for anyone to hear.

A ruby? Was it-

She opened the window and sat on the sill. It took her reaching out as far as she could, until she thought she might fall out before her fingers touched the cold gem. She grabbed it and yanked it back, stumbling to her bed before looking down at it.

Faye knew what it was. She knew what it was and knew how foolish she would have to be to use it, but it was the only way she could even try to fix things.

She could almost hear the voice speaking to her.

 _What do you want?_

Her grip tightened and she took a deep breath. She knew there would be consequences, but she couldn't bring herself to care. This was the first hope she had felt in a week, and she wasn't about to let it go. Besides, if she made the wish properly then everything that had happened could be avoided.

"I wish that my family never went to Camp Crystal Lake."

 _As you wish, Fayora. As you wish._


	10. Answers and Mysteries

Chapter Ten: Answers and Mysteries

Nothing.

It was such an abstract concept, one that was impossible to make real. People didn't see nothing. They never heard nothing, or smelt or tasted or felt nothing, unless one of their senses were cut off. Certainly, never all at once.

At least, B had always thought that it was impossible, until actually experiencing _nothing._ It was without a doubt the single worst experience. It was the kind of place that if someone were to stay too long, they might lose themselves.

And then all of a sudden there was something.

B was sitting in a dim room in a chair that was amazingly comfortable. It was jarring to go from one to the other so immediately. The second the flight or fight instinct died, though, it was time to survey the new environment.

The room was lit by a single overhead bulb that worked better at lighting the space immediately under it then the surrounding walls, which were shadowy. The walls were painted black with thousands upon thousands of flecks and spots in blues and red, and the half shadows made the bright colors pop out even more. It was very reminiscent of space.

The room was sparsely furnished. Other than the chair, there was a desk made of some dark wood. It was only as the last of the nothingness faded that it became clear someone else was there. There was a girl sitting on the other side of the desk; she was in a similar chair, leaning back with her booted feet resting on the desk and crossed at the ankle. She had dark blue jeans and a t-shirt that were like the kind that Tish had accumulated from rock concerts. Her eyes were closed, and she wore a pair of what B recognized as Skullcandy headphones. One foot bopped along to a beat that the other couldn't hear.

"Uh. Hello, there?"

The girl's eyes opened, revealing such a light blue iris that they were almost as white as her sclera. She grinned as she dropped her feet and straightened up, taking her headphones off to reveal little scythe shaped earrings. She stretched out before leaning forward.

"Sorry about those. I can't never quite resist the jokes, ya know? Hello, welcome."

"Where am I?" B asked.

"Where do you think you are?" The girl replied.

"What are you, my therapist?"

The comment actually got a chuckle from the other girl. "No, no, but I can't see what you see. What's the room look like, to you?"

"It looks like somebody has a thing for space."

"Interesting."

It would have been easy for B to take the comment as patronizing, but… Everything about the girl seemed as though she were genuinely intrigued.

"What about me? What do I look like?"

B raised an eyebrow and studied the girl. "I don't know, normal? You just… look like you could be one of my classmates. One of the cooler ones. Nice t-shirt."

"Really, huh? Oh, that is just lovely. It's been awhile since anybody has seen me as a peer."

"… Alright, look, time out here. Who or whatever you are, I need to go. I need to find my friend. She's in danger."

"Right. What was going on?"

B scowled. This was strange, and even if the other girl seemed rather peaceful, this was beginning to get grating. But… it was hard to be angry. The girl looked like an excited teacher who had just asked their favorite student a particularly challenging question, and was waiting for a right answer.

"I was… taking a day off of school. Kind of stupid for the second day, but… shit's been rough lately, so I- … Anyway, I ordered pizza, and then…"

"You're doing really good. Keep going!"

"… There was a knock on the door. I was on the phone with Fairy, and she was freaking out. She was really scared, something was-…"

"Something was… what?"

"Why am I just telling you all this? I don't even know you, and this is weird. You could be some… Freddy trick, or-"

"I promise, you'll get all your answers in just a bit. You've almost pieced it together." She smiled, a soft and loving expression that B wasn't really expecting. "I'm the only one here, and you do need to work through what happened. You're _almost_ there."

"…" She made a good point. "Alright. Faye was freaking out about something that was coming after her. She called me to… warn me. Said it might come after me. I stopped outside the door, and-" No, that couldn't be right, could it? That… couldn't be right.

"And?" The girl prompted.

"… And there were noises. Gunshots. They came through the door, and they…" There were no holes in her shirt, no blood and no pain. "Who are you?"

The girl was still smiling gently, and almost sadly.

"Who the fuck are you!?"

"I am Death. Welcome to Limbo." She lifted a hand and waved it toward the room.

"You're- … But if you're Death, and this is- That means _I'm-"_ No. No, not yet. Not _yet,_ dammit!

"Dead, yes. But don't worry! Your stay here will be very brief."

"Brief, huh? What, so I'm going to move on into- I'm going to Hell, aren't I? I don't even believe in this shit but-"

"No, no, calm down. You're just going back home."

"What?" That was an actual surprise. There had been multiple gunshot wounds, and… Well, Death. "Did an ambulance get there in time?"

"Well, no, but… There are powerful forces in your world, things that can even alter my domain." The only person B could think of who would invoke powerful forces to do that was Faye, but-

"What forces? What is she going to use? I mean you know, right?"

"Yes," the girl states, hesitantly. "I can't say specifically what- my interferences need to be limited, after all- But I can tell you that somewhere in your head, you already know what is it."

That went on a backburner. There wasn't time to puzzle it out now, and by the time whatever was going to happen happened, it would be too late anyway. "Okay, so I'm going back? … Can you tell me how that's going to work?"

"Mmmm. It will be as if it never happened."

B raised a brow. "Because I'm going to get fixed, or because it actually never happened?"

"Hehe. You're a clever one, aren't you?" Death seemed pleased with the questions, surprisingly. "I never did. Her wish changed the course of many things."

 _Wish._ So either Death had slipped up, or she had dropped the hint on purpose. Either way, the term 'Wish' narrowed down whatever means Faye was using.

"Alright, so it didn't happen." There was another thought, there. All the information was useless if it would only last as long as this did. "When I get out of here, whatever happens, will I remember this conversation?"

"That depends on you. Some people repress these things, and others don't. Though… you might only remember it as a dream."

There was some kind of a choice. Great. It would definitely make things easier.

"What about the other changes? What will I remember? Will I know how I died, or-?"

"You may remember this conversation, yes, but I am equal parts happy and sorry to say that you won't remember anything that made the previous timeline different from the new ones."

"… But if I remember this conversation, won't I remember enough to know that there _was_ a different timeline?"

It earned B another quick flash of a smile. Was Death trying to help without helping? If so, then damn was she good.

"You only have a little bit more time here before I have to bring you back. Is there anything else you want to ask before I do?"

"… I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. But… just promise me, if Faye ends up here… Take care of her, okay?"

Death just smiled and nodded. "Of course, I will. That is my job, you know. I exist across all of time and space to offer comfort to those who die." She stood and stepped around, offering a hand to help B up.

B accepted it, pausing for just a moment before leaning down to place a small kiss on the back on the girl's hand. Death chuckled and raised an eyebrow, though she didn't seem all that upset.

"And what was that for?"

"Well, I can't leave without getting a chance to say that I flirted with Death, now can I?"

Death blinked as if truly caught of guard, then laughed cheerfully. "Flattery will get you nothing from me my dear. There's only one who could ever hold my heart. Though I appreciate it all the same."

"Heh. Now, can we go? My friend needs me."

"Of course. Just follow me."

* * *

Fayora Christoph had her forehead pressed against the cool glass of the car, watching as the scenery flew past, the giant trees looming over the car she shared with her parents. The girl was fifteen, fresh out of school for Spring Break, and bored out of her mind.

"Are we almost there? Where are we going, anyway?"

"It's a _surprise,_ sweetheart." Her mom spoke cheerfully from the front seat. "Oh, make sure you put your sunscreen on, and drink lots of the tea we got you, okay?"

She was never one to complain about sweet tea, and it was a fair compromise between water and soda, so she down another few gulps of it.

"It looks like we're only a few minutes away, according to the GPS," her father added. He was never quite as cheerful as her mom, but he did have a quiet sort of dignity about him.

Most of the time, anyway. Occasionally he would have a few beers after a long case, and then he was making jokes that she would never be able to unhear.

Hearing dick jokes from a friend was one thing, hearing them from a parent was… weird.

She turned her head back to the window and pressed her forehead against the cool glass. It was only then that she noticed the tall structures in the distance. She sat up straighter and her eyes widened as she recognized the bright colors. Roller coasters!?

"Oh! We're going to an amusement park?"

"Yep!" Her mom turned to face her and smiled as her dad began the long search for a parking spot. "We _were_ thinking about camping originally, but… This seemed like more fun!"

Faye just grinned and grabbed her camera. This was going to be great.

* * *

"Faye. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth!"

"So, what did you do on your vacation, huh?"

"Oh!" She grinned and clapped her hands together. "It was so fun. Okay, so we went to an amusement park, and I got a T-Shirt from riding the biggest and fastest coaster they had there."

"Oh my god, Faye! You're so lucky."

* * *

It was the end of a long day of beach fun, but Faye was still pretty excited. School was as stressful as always, but according to her mom, she'd received a package of some sort, and getting mail was still a fun and exciting thing for her. The box was resting on her bed when she arrived, and it was bigger than she had expected; she had figured it would be about the size of a couple of books stack on top of each other, but it was closer in size to a mini fridge.

It _wasn't_ a mini fridge, though. She found out that it was far too light when she picked it up to test the weight. Ah, well, she would find out what it was soon enough.

She turned around and dug in the drawer next to her bed, pulling out a pair of scissors. She quickly cut throat the tape and opened it to reveal-

"Oh my _God._ " It was a life size and movie accurate version of Chucky. From what she could see, all of the stitches were lined up and everything. Most people might find it creepy, and while she did to a degree, the horror enthusiast in her was beyond excited about the doll. She set the scissors down and picked it up. It even had fake blood stains on the overalls.

She propped it up on her bed, laughing to herself at how easy it was to make it look like the doll was sitting up on its own, before grabbing her phone and dialing a very familiar number. B would be just as amused by the doll as she was.

"Hey, Fairy! 'Sup?"

"Hey, B! You are not going to _believe_ what I just got in the mail today. It's an actual life sized-"

Her voice cut off. The phone dropped from her hand, and the girl collapsed to the floor. That was all B could make out.

"Fairy? Is this some kind of weird joke? … Fairy? Faye! Pick up the damn phone girl, you can't just-"

A low and steady laugh cut the sentence off. It was masculine, and years of horror binging meant that it was recognizable.

"… Alright, _Charles,_ the fuck did you do to my friend?"

"Your friend ain't here anymore."

* * *

B stood in Faye's room, arms followed and face set into a scowl.

The girl's funeral had been that day, and her parents had allowed B to come over and grab whatever stuff was left over from their various sleepovers.

Funerals were the worst. They were the only time that B wore entirely white; an old family tradition left over from her father - one of the _only_ things that bastard had left behind, and definitely one of the worst. Faye's was a very small event. It was mostly the girl's family, with a couple of people B recognized from school. Alex, to begin with. Some white-haired guy that B didn't know the name of. And Charlotte and her boyfriend, which was a big surprise.

B couldn't stay the whole time. It was… difficult. Especially with the looks some woman that was with Faye's parents was shooting.

The story was- Well, there _was_ no story, not yet. Faye had been found dead in her room, stabbed in the back by a kitchen pair of scissors that she had kept in her room. The cops had begun by investigating her parents, since they had been the only ones' home with her at her time of death, but B was next. After all, murders were usually committed by those closest to people, after all.

B was the only one who knew who had done it.

Charles Lee Ray, in the body of a Good Guy doll. And he would come after B next, because if he was still after the 'first person who he revealed himself to' then, well…

That was all right, though. In a way, B had been expecting the situation, in no small part due to some… interesting dreams. Though any sleep was fitful at best, the dreams were all too vivid, and they were all about the same girl. A girl who spoke of death and the dead, a figure that included B in the dream. Who said that Faye would do something to change it.

And now it was time to change things back.

… Well, not entirely. B certainly… had a good deal of affection for Faye, but if there was a way they could both live, that would be far better than having to die. Die again? It was a very strange set of circumstances. The only problem was that basic knowledge wasn't enough. No, if this was going to work out, the plan would require much more detailed information.

There was something that would help. The thing that Faye had used to fix things. If it had altered an entire timeline once, then it could do it again. The only hard part was finding it. It would be difficult to spot, even if a mental image of it was easy to conjure. It was small and red and-

Something glistened from the tree outside Faye's window, causing B to blink a few times before scurrying over to it. Could that be it? Faye didn't _tend_ to keep sparkly objects in the rotted-out and grass filled hole of the tree outside her window.

It took hardly any time to retrieve the gem. It was well within arm's length for B, and once it was safely inside…

"I wish-" There was a long pause. Wishing was a very delicate business, especially with things like this creature. The wording would have to be very precise. "I wish I knew exactly why and how you died, Faye. Exactly."

The gem began to glow, the red hues brightened until B was forced to blink, and then-

"Djinn."

"You know what I am? Hm. You are even more foolish than the average one of your kind who finds my gem, if you still wish to partake in wishing." He laughed, and a clawed hand reached out to touch B's head. For just a second there was a distinct lack of wish granting, and then-

Memories.

Memories of every single thing that had happened to the both of them.

There were the Cenobites, and B was holding a box that was supposed to lead to pain and pleasures untold, things that a living human couldn't handle. It was such a terrible thing, to truly want to open the box, but the desire never faded as the pieces clicked into place. The real reason they were summoned.

Memories of Chucky and how easy it was to beat him, which were all the more bitter now that Faye was dead by his hand.

Jason, and all their classmates' bodies strewn about in a mock set up that the two could never set up on their own. The killer who had almost never seemed to have the intent to kill. Not toward B, anyway.

They went to Los Angeles. They both got to meet Beyond Birthday himself, though Faye was significantly less thrilled about the situation.

Mirrors. School. A new kid.

Bullets.

It was overwhelming enough to reexperience all the things that B had previously lived through, and then-

There were new memories.

The Terminators. Two of them. One of them an ally, the other a danger. Memories of a funeral with a corpse that was like looking in the mirror. Pain and numbness, somehow both at once.

Faye found the gem and made the wish, and she died for it. That was why she had died, wasn't it? Because there were _consequences_ for wishing. Just like there would be for that one.

The hand removed itself, and B had to grab onto the post of Faye's bed. One wish down, and since Faye's wish had not technically happened… One more. That was it.

B spun around and faced the creature. It was too late to be afraid, so no fear was evident. Instead, the Djinn got an eye full of the best glare that B could muster.

… The grin was a surprise. He wasn't supposed to find the look amusing, but it seemed like he did.

"Hello, Blessings."

… What? "You know my name?"

"Oh, I know quite a bit about you. You're old blood, an old family line."

"Tell me what you know."

"Do you wish it?"

… Three wishes were out of the question and, as nice as Death had been, ditching Faye for whatever place that was? Yeah, that was also out of the question.

"… I wish that the next time I wake, it will be the morning of the day that Terminator killed me, and I will have every memory I do now."

He seemed almost… surprised, but nodded, respectfully. "If you truly wish for that, then… I shall give it to you."

He reached forward, and that claw hand brushed hair out of the way to touch skin. B was falling, then, air whooshing by, grabbing and pulling at clothes and hair, and then-

A hard landing, and darkness.

* * *

Faye had no idea where she was.

Everything was dark and hazy, and her footsteps echoed loudly as she walked. The floor underneath her was dark and polished stone that reflected her image.

The first few minutes she had been there, she tried to run, but every direction she turned had just led to more of the same. She ran in the straightest line she could manage for a about five minutes, and she had found nothing. It was enough to make her think she was outside.

Yet the artificial quality of the floor spoke otherwise. No stone was naturally polished to such a state. So… She had to be inside somewhere. Some huge building with polished floors, no lights, and… a fog machine?

That couldn't be right.

She sighed and sat down. The floor was cold against her skin, and part of her was grateful for that. She had always loved that kind of feeling, be it a cool breeze, a cool window, or…

"It's relaxing, isn't it?"

She jumped and twisted around. The voice sounded like it was right next to her, but she… didn't see anybody. The girl swallowed and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I… don't know about relaxing. I think I'd describe it more as intimidating."

"Oh? And why is that?"

Where was the voice coming from? There was _nobody_ near her, though… it sounded friendly enough. She bit the inside of her cheek.

"I can't see anything. I don't know where I am. I don't know who _you_ are. There's… a lot of unknowns."

"And you've afraid of the unknown." It wasn't a question this time, it was a statement. "But aren't mysteries fun?"

"No. Not when you don't remember how or when you got somewhere. It's not fun then."

There was a soft laugh that surrounded her, and she looked around, but there was still… nothing.

"Are you hiding in the haze? … Please come out. I'd rather talk to someone face to face. Unless, well, me seeing you means you'd have to kill me. You can stay put then."

That got an almost sad sigh, before some of the haze began to take on a more solid form, as if someone were approaching. "You might be afraid of me, but please don't worry. I would never harm anyone."

"… Scary but nice. Right. I'll do my best not to freak out, then."

A figure began to step out away from the haze, and she could make out long limbs that were scarily thin. Almost skeletally thin-

She bit down harder. The closer the figure got, the more she could make out the familiar features. A black cloak that trailed along across the ground.

It wasn't quite a skeleton; It was as if someone had taken a skeleton and vacuum sealed it back into its skin. Though a black cloak covered most of the body, she could see the hands and lower arms, as well as the face. It had no hair, no eyes, just a skull beneath a thin layer of skin.

She opened her mouth, closed it before she could scream, and shook her head. Don't freak out. She had no idea what-

… No. Actually, she did. There was only one being she knew of that would have a skeletal appearance, and that was-

"…" She closed her eyes. She didn't want it to be true. But if this creature was who she thought…

There was a rattling noise, and she glanced over. The skeletal creature was sitting next to her, looking out into the haze.

"So. What do you see?"

"… What do I see where? It's hard to see much of anything."

There was a small chuckle. "In general. Though seeing nothing is just as useful as anything else. Do you really not see anything?"

"… There's a lot of haze around here. Like… A very thick fog, I guess? I can only see a couple of feet in front of me, nothing up above, and…" She glanced down. "The floor is pretty. It looks like… obsidian, maybe? Or onyx. And it's polished so much I can see myself in it."

"Interesting. And me? What do I look like?"

"… You're basically a skeleton in a dark cloak." Did it not own a mirror or something?

"Ah, one of the classics. Tell me, do I have a Jamaican accent?"

"What? Uh… No?"

"That's been happening a lot lately, you know. Most people who still see me as a skeleton also seem to see me as masculine with a Jamaican accent. Ask me where the two kids are. It's absolutely hilarious, and I have no idea what they mean by it."

"… Well, uh. Maybe you should watch more TV."

"Heh. Maybe! I don't have much free time these days, though." It- He, maybe?

Faye wasn't sure how to think of creature.

"… What are you, anyway?"

"Well, that's something you'll figure out in time-"

"No, I know _who_ you are. You're Death. Not that hard to figure out. I mean, like… Do you consider yourself a lady? A guy? … Neither?" It was a bit strange to ask

"Heh. I'm getting all the clever ones today. And… I really don't care. I am a being that is outside human confines of gender." The skeleton turned to look at her. "Though I believe your friend sees me as female, so it might be easiest to call me a woman."

"Okay, that makes- … My friend? Wait, my friend was here? Which friend?" None of her friends had died recently, had they?

A skeletal hand rested on her shoulder. "Take a deep breath. Your friend was here for a visit, not forever."

"How does someone just visit- … A near death experience?"

The creature chuckled and nodded. "Oh, you know, near death experiences, necromancy, or rewriting history to bring someone back. That timeline you launched yourself into was never going to be a stable one, though."

Death was giving her a lot to think about. The timeline she launched herself into? Between that and the last in the string of reason to only 'visit' Death…

"I rewrote history?"

"Yep! Can you remember what happened next?"

"I don't even remember that-" But… She did. The memories were foggy, as if they were a dream she was just waking up from. She could remember holding the Djinn's gem, and that meant. "Okay, so I made a wish, and then… Things just kinda went… calmly."

"Calmly, hm? And not… Normally?"

"No, it was-" Not normal. But it _was_ normal, wasn't it? That was how her life had always gone.

… No, it wasn't. Not always.

"Why do I remember… two different things?"

"One set is real, the other… existed for a short time. Just enough for Djinn to collect his debt on you. Those will be gone once leave here."

The ones made by the Djinn, hm? Those ones where things were normal, right up until-

"… I got stabbed. By _Chucky._ Chucky! I got killed by a doll. Damnit, I couldn't have at least gotten killed by one of the cool things?" Of all the things that she could have gotten killed by, it was the one that could be taken out by an excited puppy?

"The fact that your big complaint against this is not _that_ you died, but _how_ you died, is part of what makes your line so interesting."

"My what?"

"Anyway! Good thing for you, you aren't going to be going to any afterlife. You'll be going right back home."

… What?

"I'll be going back home?"

"Mhm." The skin over the skeleton's mouth pulled back into a smile as a skeletal hand reached out towards her. "You weren't the only one to find that little crystal, Faye."

"Okay, but- … But what's gonna happen when you take me back? Am I just going to wind up right back here, again?"

"That depends on you. But… if you do, I'll be here, alright? And I'll take good care of you. I'll always take care of everyone who dies."

That wasn't very comforting, but she nodded and took the hand. She would just have to try her damndest to make sure that this didn't happen again.

* * *

B's eyes snapped open, and a grin formed on her face.

She had a lot to get done, but there was a strange sense of peace over her. It was the feeling of, for the first time since this had started, being three steps ahead of everyone else.

She cracked her knuckles, jumped to her feet, and stretched. This was going to be a very, very busy day, but as long as she did two things, everything would be fine.

She just had to make sure that, to everyone else, nothing changed from the previous timeline, while also not actually dying.

It was going to be tricky, but if anyone could pull it off, it was her. She made a quick stop in her closet and from there, she had everything she was going to need in the pantry.

* * *

The phone rang right as her preparations were finished, and she picked it up, pausing only to take a moment to prepare herself. She had to remember that conversation, and speak it just the same.

"Hallo?"

"Oh, thank God. Okay, B, you have to be very careful, okay?" Her friend sounded frantic, and she had to keep her tone as normal as possible. Not even- that would tip Faye off immediately.

"… Fairy, 's that you? Are you okay? What the fuck did I miss at school?"

"I'm fine, but… Well, my bad luck is still going."

"Who is it now? Someone I have to beat up-" Right on cue, the buzzer from the front went off. This wasn't going to be pleasant, but damn if it wasn't necessary. "Oh, doorbell. Keep talking, Fairy, that's probably the pizza I ordered."

"B, don't answer!"

She paused, right outside the door, like she had before. "You think that it's the-"

Bullets tore through the door and into her chest, knocking her down and sending her to the floor. Red liquid gurgled and seeped out of the holes in her shirt and after a second, she dropped her head to the ground with a slight _thud_ and her eyes fluttered shut.

"B? BB? Pick the damn phone back up, Blessings! …" The phone hung up with a click as the remains of the front door pushed in. Footsteps creaked along the floor as something heavy made its way in and over to her. It stayed for a few moments, and then the footsteps faded away.

For a long few minutes, she didn't move. It was only once she was sure it was gone that she opened her eyes and sat up.

"Heh. Dickhole."

She pulled herself to her feet and dragged herself up to her room, pulling the ruined baggy shirt off over her head as she did. She tossed it into the corner in her room, pausing for a moment to glance at her closets mirrors and dab a bit of red from the vest she wore under her clothes. She licked it off. Mmm, chocolate.

Fake blood was _easy_ to make. Bullet proof vests were a bit less common, but she and Faye had been through enough that she had been stocking up over time. The terminator- that wasn't one she had expected, but hey, it came in handy.

That should be it, though. Now… all she had to do we keep quiet until everything else played itself out.

She _wanted_ to, but she already knew that it would play out just fine without her.

Plus, she had to clean up the fake blood and door before her mom and stepdouche got back.

* * *

It… had been a very long day.

Faye just wanted to sink into her bed and forget about everything that had happened, forget about the terminator, the death of her best friend, and everything that came with it. She had never been tempted to do anything to numb her senses- especially not after her life became a horror movie- but damn, was she tempted now. All she could do was wait until someone found B, and then… try to mourn, like a normal person?

Her phone rang, and she winced as she grabbed it and saw B's number. Could she… not answer it? Was that an option?

No, she decided, as she answered the phone and held it to her ear. It wasn't.

"Hello?"

"Damn Fairy," a familiar voice spoke, causing her to sit bolt right up in her bed, "you sound like someone died."

"B!?"

"The one and only. Well, not counting the original."

"But- But we were on the phone, and you- you died! And-"

"Let's meet up at tomorrow at the mall, and I'll tell ya all about it."

"…" Faye frowned. "Are you… sure you're actually B?"

"Mhm," came the voice. "More specifically, meet me at Hot Topic."

Okay, that sounded better. She would just… have to get her answers tomorrow. The sound of her friend's voice eased the anguish on her chest, though, and she found herself hit with a wave of exhaustion. Sleep was next- everything else could wait until tomorrow.

* * *

"-And that's what happened. It's fucking weird, I have a bunch of _your_ memories floating around in my head now too." They were sitting at a table with a few new bags to the side, and a smoothie in front of each girl.

"Nothing too bad, I hope?"

B chuckled and half shrugged. "It was mostly from that one nightmare on- and it wasn't like it was _everything._ Just the relevant bits. You don't know how hard it was not to just go set everything up to make it easier, though."

"Why didn't you?"

"'Cause, well… I knew what you did worked. All _I_ had to do was keep myself alive without changing anything else. And it worked! … But you know, we should probably figure out something to do with that gem." Djinn was not someone to be taken lightly, after all- their only saving grace was that since B's wish had rewritten time, his gem had never been activated by _either_ girl. "Pity the damn dragon didn't give us back our lock box, huh? Ah, well. We can pick up another one."

Faye laughed and nodded. "My dad has some old cement mix- we could probably throw that in there to make it even harder to get out. Just… stick it right in the middle and let it set."

"Yeah, we can-" The other girl paused and tilted her head, glancing over Faye's shoulder. Faye turned to look in the same direction.

There was a boy, with shaggy brown hair, being closely followed by someone who looked suspiciously like a former California governor.

"Looks like this is our opportunity," Faye muttered. "Act unnatural."

"Okay. You owe me for this, though." She shot a thumbs up and went back to sipping at her drink.

It wasn't long after the other two had gotten out of sight that someone who appeared to be a police officer walked into view. Faye leaned forward and, dipping into the valley girl accent that she rarely used, began the act.

"Ohmigod, did you see that weird kid? And his suuuuper buff dad?"

B flipped her own hair back and nodded, over enthusiastically for anyone. "Like, that guy looked like he could, like, be one of those people who like… bend pans."

The conversation had caught the ear of the 'officer' and he made his way over, none too subtly. He paused at their table and offered what would have been a charming smile, if it reached his empty eyes.

"You saw a boy and a large gentleman? Did you catch where they were going?"

Faye glanced up at him, back to B, then back to him. "Liiiike, is he a bad guy?"

"Yes. He's suspected of kidnapping."

Both girls managed to pull off shocked and horrified. B placed a hand on her chest and gasped loudly, eyes widening almost impossibly large. Faye clapped her hands to face, one on her cheek and the other over her mouth.

"An actual kidnapper? Like, ohmigod that never happens here. We'll cooperate any way we can, Mr. Officer!" B was overselling it, which only worked thanks to the lack of social skill that future assassination robots had. He was buying all of it.

His eyes glinted than, a dangerous expression.

"Where did they go?"

"I heard," Faye added, "that they were going to some safehouse? Like, is that a code word for something? The big guy said it was somewhere called… Crystal Lake."

* * *

It took him an hour to get there, speeding in his stolen police car. It took him even less time to step out and look around the quickly darkening camp.

He immediately began to prowl around, searching for his target. All the while he was watched, very closely.

It wasn't a Friday the Thirteenth- It was, in fact, Wednesday the Fifth- but this was an… unusual circumstance. This creature obviously wasn't a teenager.

Normally he wouldn't have bothered, but he had gotten a message via a strange girl in his lake. He had only tried to stab her once, and when it didn't work, he had set the machete down and offered a flower as an apology.

The girl had, flower tucked behind her ear, explained that she had gotten word from Faye and B that a very bad man was coming to his camp, and told him to do whatever he wanted.

And he planned on it.

He couldn't wait too long- once the light was dim enough not to hurt his eyes, he strode forward, carefully, silently. As soon as he got close enough, he brought his machete down on the man's neck, in a move he had put into practice many times over the years.

It had no effect whatsoever.

The blade sunk into the metal and the man turned around and reached his hand forward- only, as he reached out, his hand melted into a shimmery liquid and sharpened into a an almost knife like point.

Jason had been stabbed before, but that didn't make it any less painful. He grabbed the things wrist, yanked the blade out of his stomach, and slammed the creature into the ground.

He didn't expect it to take the blow as though it were a gentle tap. He _also_ didn't expect the creature to grab his own arm and repeat the action, slamming directly onto his head into the packed down Earth.

He was already dead, so it didn't _kill_ him. The motion did, however, knock the killer out and as it just so happened, he was still holding onto the Terminator when he did.

The next moment he was standing in the dream world, sweat almost immediately creeping down his back from the intense heat that smothered anyone there.

The creature was standing across from him, peering around at the glowing metal, listening to the steam whistling out of cracked pipes. There was no way they could have traveled so quickly.

Jason took that opportunity to body slam the man, knocking him down easily enough. It was easy to pin him, but then he just melted himself down, flowed out and around Jason, and grabbed him by the mask, yanking him off balance and throwing him into a mess of pipes.

The fight could have continued for another several hours, but right at that moment, a third figure joined the part.

"The fuck?" The deep echoing voice of the dream demon was familiar to Jason (unfortunately) but the terminator had never had that experience. He glanced at the man for a moment, mentally labelled him not a threat, and went back to lunging for Jason.

"Hey!" The grated metal beneath the Terminator split and shot up, wrapping around him and melting together, much like he did, until he was contained in an almost completely sealed metal tomb.

Freddy strode forward, tapping his own face with his claws.

"Well. No idea what the fuck you are, but… I don't feel any fear on you. You're also screwing with him- and the only one allowed to down that guy for good- that's me."

He grinned, showing off his rotting teeth. "So. Let's just make this quick. It ain't fun if you don't feel pain."

The metal tomb sealed itself and dropped, directly into the flame and lava below. It bubbled and gurgled until metallic shrieks sounded, and Freddy glanced up at Jason, splaying his claws and chuckling.

"As for you, big guy-"

* * *

Jason woke to the feeling of molten metal on his hand, Freddy's last few words echoing uselessly in his mind as he stepped back and frantically shook the burning drops off his hand.

The metal didn't do anything, though. He eyed it wearily as it sunk into the ground and burned the grass all around it. When it finally seemed to cool and solidify, he nodded to himself.

That was done. Now it was time for some sorely needed rest.


	11. Something Old, Something New

Faye's footsteps pounded against the metal of the catwalk, echoing loudly and merging with the sounds of steam escaping from pipes, her own ragged breathing, and somewhere not so far away…

Metal on metal. The sound of claws scraping against whatever they could find to let out a loud screech, designed to send chills down her spine and churn her stomach. She had been running from the being behind that sound for a while now, running from someone who shouldn't be able to chase her.

It had started right when she had fallen asleep. The beginning of her dream wasn't anything strange. She was outside in the snow in her pajamas, cold and wondering how she had gotten there. The sight of a building immediately made her think of shelter, so she had picked her way through the snow to find… a school?

Whatever it was and why ever it was there, it was warmer than outside, and she let herself in. The door opened easily enough, and once she was inside, she leaned against the wall, soaking in the warmth and-

The wall gave way beneath her and she fell, frantically flailing around for any hope at grabbing onto something that might slower her fall. She found nothing and landed hard on her back. The air forced itself out of her lungs, and it wasn't until she had gasped back in to frantically fill them that she realizing something.

The landing had hurt. It was _still_ hurting. It had felt like the time she had slipped and fell off a ladder and not at all like a normal dream.

Most people would have passed it off as such, but… She had _been_ to Freddy's realm before. There was no way he should be able to reach her from his home on Elm Street, but somehow- somehow she was _back._ She immediately began searching for a weapon, not though it would do much, when the first bone chilling screech sounded.

From there… All she could do was run.

He had dropped her into a maze. Her sense of time was off thanks to the dream state, so she had no idea how long she had been there. She needed a way to wake herself up.

Damn- how had Nancy done it again? She remembered the girl pressing her arm against the vent, and thought it still burned her, it had woken her up. But… Pain alone couldn't do it, or Freddy would have to kill his victims quick and painlessly. Otherwise, they would just wake up, right?

A wall appeared in front of her and she dug her heels into the ground, staggering to a stop.

Embedded in the wall was a door. It seemed like a trap, and she turned around to try another path, only to find… more walls. She was surrounded on all sides.

Gritting her teeth, she turned to the door and pushed her way through out, back out into the snow. She kept running even as her feet sunk into the snow. Though as she ran, the snow vanished from under her, turning to paved roadway. The wooded scenery surrounding the school changed to neighborhood houses. She finally had to stop, gasping in pain around the burning in her sides. She looked up at the house she had stopped in front of.

Was it any surprise that it was 4218 Elm Street? Freddy's house.

She heard footsteps behind her and cursed to herself, before running forward up the stars, to the door. She threw it open and leapt through-

She woke with a start.

She was in her own room, safe in her bed. Her walls were covered with her sketches of plans and other doodles.

The girl sighed and dropped back into her bed, placing her hand over her heart to calm it. She wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon, not after that. Ah, well. She… just had to get some caffeine in her system now.

She got out of bed and heading to the living room. She had been doing her best to hide this. In most horror movies, that was the worst thing to do, but this? This was a Nightmare on Elm Street. If she didn't tell her friends, they wouldn't get roped into the nightmares. The second reason was that as long as nobody else was around to feed Freddy's fear, he wouldn't kill her.

Oh, he would torment her. He would cut her up and terrify her. But… She was too useful to kill just yet.

Hiding a lack of sleep wasn't easy, though. She knew very well how hard it was to hide- hell, how often did she try and help B with her own lack of sleep? So… After a few days of getting little to no sleep, with what little rest she did get filled with nightmares and fear, she had some dark bags under her eyes, and she was too tired to try and hide them.

Which lead to…

"So, Fairy. Are you going to explain why you haven't been sleeping either?"

Faye sighed. She was trying her hardest not to tell anyone. Also, to not fall asleep in her beans.

"I just, haven't been sleeping well lately, that's all."

B threw a small glare her way. It would have been enough to make someone made of lesser stuff would have taken off. Faye had known B so long she was immune to all her scary glares.

The disappointed glares, on the other hand? Those were still killer.

This one was meant to be scary, however, so she just shrugged. Faye was already a bad liar, and she was too tired to think of anything that would crumble to pieces at the slightest observation, so she instead opted for a half truth.

"I've been having nightmares. About the serial killers, about everything going on. That's all." She didn't bother to stay to see their reactions. "I've gotta go- I have some make up work to drop off before class starts."

* * *

B watched as she walked off, mental wheels turning in thought.

"It's Freddy," she muttered to herself. It made sense. Those sleepless bags, the refusal to explain, the talk about nightmares? She was positive it was Freddy. And Faye was trying to hide it.

She pulled out her phone and began to type. The first thing she had to do was speed order some hypnocil. After that, she would had to figure out how to help Faye until the medicine got in.

* * *

Faye rested her head on her hands, staring listlessly at the at the board. They were going over facts and figures that she couldn't keep track of when she was well rested. The girl's eyes fluttered, dropping as if they had weights attached to them. She could feel herself drifting off, and however much she tried to fight against it…

She lost the battle.

The girl was shivering, hugging herself in the cold. She was standing in the snowy landscape in front of the school again, and she knew that if she walked in, she would find Freddy waiting for her.

Instead, she turned around and started to walk away, however useless it would be. She knew for a fact that she would either be dragged into the school against her will, or she would just come back to it. Something awful that ran on dream logic.

She was… surprised when she found the snow melting away beneath her, turning into road. It was far more slowly than it had been the night before, but eventually she found herself solidly on a street. There, once again, was the infamous Elm Street house.

She strained her ears. She could hear footsteps from somewhere behind her. Would she be walking directly into a trap if she went into the building? What other choice did she have?

She gathered her courage and stepped forward, throwing the door open, walking in.

Almost immediately, the back of her shirt was grabbed. She struggled and felt herself shoved through another door, which slammed shut behind her. Immediately she turned around and looked, trying to find whatever horrible nightmare was in the room. Sharp needles or crawling bugs- that was what she expected.

What she found was… nothing. It was just a closet. A very dark closet, but a normal closes nevertheless.

It was actually almost comforting. She had always been fond of small spaces. They had always felt safe to her, because when she could feel the sides of the room she was in, she knew that nothing could sneak up on her. It was almost like wrapping a warm blanket around one's shoulders.

It was than that she heard… voices. Creeping close to the close, she pressed her ear against it to listen.

"Where is she? I know she didn't get to this side of the realm on her own," an unfamiliar voice growled.

"I didn't see her," a much more familiar voice stated. Freddy? But if that was Freddy, who was the other one? "Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. This is _my_ territory, and she's my prey, ya got that, you no good lousy copy-catting shitface?"

Was he trying to… protect her?

"You can't even get to her unless _I_ pull her into the dream realm first. How are you supposed to hunt your prey if you can barely get the kids from Springwood?"

Faye bit the inside of her lip. They were arguing over her. She moved back, away from the door, and brushed into something that clanged. The voices fell silent and she grimaced.

What did she do? What could she- Pain! Pain had woken her up the first time. The door opened just as she realized the difference between that and Freddy's actions. She looked up to find two people as she lifted her hand to her mouth and pushed the webbing between her thumb and pointer finger in mouth. As she bit down as hard as she could, she managed to piece together who they were.

One was Freddy, and the other… was an uglier clone of Freddy.

She woke up and tasted blood in her mouth. The girl spat out her hand and watched, almost mutely, as it bled all over her desk. Damn, it stung. She looked up and met the eyes of everyone who was staring at her. B wasn't in this class, so all the gazes were a mix of shock and concern and… something she hadn't expected to see. Concern, from one girl.

"Good God, Faye!" The teacher proclaimed. "Why- Why did you- … Go to the nurse, right now and have her clean that out. Go. Now."

She pulled herself up to her feet and made her way out of the room, wrapping her hand in her shirt as she did. The shirt would be stained and ruined after that, but she didn't care too much. She didn't have enough energy to-

"Hey!"

She paused and looked back. That girl- she didn't know her name, but it was the one who seemed concerned. She stepped forward and grabbed Faye by the sleeve, pulling her into the bathroom.

Faye could only watch in exhausted confusion as the girl glanced under the stalls to make sure that nobody else was there. Was this girl a serial killer too? Was she about to die in a restroom?

She took a moment to study the other. She had long hair that looked almost rusty red. It was tied up, held out of her face in a loose ponytail. She was wearing a long sleeved green shirt, with a black backpack, which she was taking off and pulling a-

Was that a first aid kit?

"Hey, uh… I can just… go to the nurse, you know."

"You could," she agreed, "but… I wanted to talk to you. Here- let me see your hand, I can clean it up."

Faye hesitated, but after a moment, held out her hand. "Okay. What did you wanna say?"

The girl carefully took her hand and started to clean it, gently patting the blood away. "You show up to school injured. A lot. You try and hide it, but it's not that easy to someone who knows what to look for. Are… Are you okay?"

Faye raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine."

"You just bit your hand wide open."

"... Okay, you have a point. I guess." She sighed and glanced down at the wound. The girl was carefully wrapping it up. "But I can't explain. You wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

"It's not going to be the answer you think."

"Believe me, I would be glad if it wasn't."

She taped Faye's hand up and let it go. Faye pulled it back- the bandage work was far better than any of her own.

"It's serial killers. I've just been running into a whole lot of them. Not normal ones either- ones that… Ones that most people don't think are real, like-"

"Jeff?"

"Huh?" She paused. The name sounded familiar but she couldn't place it- wait. Creepypastas, of course. "Jeff the Killer? No, I haven't actually run into him yet. But- But like him, yeah. A lot like him." She dropped her injured hand back into her lap and shrugged. "And this- This was because of another one."

"One that could attack you in the middle of a classroom, without being seen?"

Faye looked up at her. She didn't seem to be disbelieving, but it seemed hard for anyone to just… believe what she said so quickly. Hell, even B hadn't believe her this quickly "No, not exactly. I did that myself, to… get away. That might not make sense, but- That's how it is."

The other girl studied her for a long few moments, than nodded and held out a hand, to shake Faye's uninjured one.

"My name is Tess, by the way. I'm not sure if we've met."

"My name is Faye." She shook the hand and smiled. "Hey- you should teach me how to take care of wounds like that. I… Pick up a lot of them."

She got a smile in return, and the other girl- Tess- nodded.

"I will. I had to pick up a lot of it myself, but… I'll be happy to show you some tricks I know."

* * *

Faye returned home with the number of a new friend scribbled on a piece of paper in her pocket. She left early, right after Tess had finished with her hand.

She was too tired to actually care about missed classes anymore.

She headed straight up into her room and closed the door behind her. Neither of her parents were home yet. She locked her door and went over to her dresser, opening the middle drawer.

She had never thought much about religion growing up. Her mother never really talked about the household she was raised in, and her dad was agnostic- he didn't know if there was any kind of god, and didn't care.

Her opinion always been the same. She didn't care. Originally it was because she hadn't needed to, and now because…

There was no purely benevolent god. If there where, the things she had seen would have never been allowed.

Still, she knew that symbols of belief were powerful, especially when it came to demons like Freddy. She didn't think that it was the symbol itself that mattered, but rather the belief that it would work.

From there came the simple question of how could she place belief in a symbol when she didn't believe in the deities most of them were devoted to.

So all she had to do was find one that she could reconcile with her own mindsets.

She pulled the drawer out of her dresser and set it down. It had a few various things in it. There was a small notebook, various colored candles and candle holders, a small cauldron filled with sand, and a small necklace. In a small lock box, in the corner of the dresser, there were wrapped and dried bundles of sage and matches.

It was only locked because she didn't want to explain to anyone why there were bundles of dried herbs and matches in her room. Granted, burned sage purified things was the honest answer, but somehow she doubted serial killers or worse, her parents, would believe that.

She emptied the drawer before setting it up the way she would need it for this spell.

Magic was strange- she had never thought she would make use of it- but it was something she could _easily_ believe in after all of this.

It had taken her a while to get all this stuff- she had been saving her allowance to by the pieces, bit by bit. And now… she was going to make a protective charm.

She set the cauldron in the middle of the drawer and unlocked the box with a small silver key from her keyring. Opening it, she took one of the bundles of sage out and grabbed a match. It took only a moment to light the edge of the bundle and wave the flame out, so that it smoldered. From there, she carefully set it on the sand, where it could burn out all it wanted.

She held the necklace- a five pointed star, the symbol of the religion she now claimed- over the smoke and she focused her intent on it, whispering under her breath as she did.

"May whoever keep this charm, be protected from all harm. No spirit or demon with harmful intent, shall touch whoever this charm protects. May things only pass with intentions friendly, this is my will so mote it be."

She knew it was supposed to rhyme, but… She supposed slant rhymes would have to be enough. She repeated the words until the sage burned itself out, sifted the ash out into a bag and left the sand (making a mental note to figure out how to discard the ash later) and packed up her drawer once again. She slid it easily into place on the shelf, before putting the necklace on and tucking it under her shirt.

Now that she was done with that… She had no idea what else she could do. Technically she was supposed to be at school for another hour, and she knew her parents wouldn't be getting back until after, so…

She opted to go downstairs and put something on television. Usually, she would pick a horror series, but since her life had _become_ one, she opted for something cute and innocent instead.

After one refreshening of her bandage, and three episodes of a nice show about cute ponies, she heard a knock at the door. Shit. What now?

She got up and made her way over, only unlocking it and opening it after peeping through the peephole and seeing a familiar face.

"Hello. Heard you might need a hand with your homework." B flashed a folder and walked in, a familiar style of jar tucked under one arm. "I brought another present too."

She was about to ask if it was jam when she realized that it was clear. That was… strange. "Is it the jar? It looks like it's full of… water."

"Yup. Holy water, specifically. For your… nightmares."

Crap.

"I didn't hide it very well, did I?" Faye closed the door and relocked it as B made herself comfortable on the couch and set the jar to her side.

"Nope. So… It looks like we're having a slumber party. Great timing, I haven't slept yet this week, so I should get at least a few hours in." She grinned and held up the jar. "And once we get in, we can douse 'im and hopefully weaken him enough so he'll back off for a few days."

"Yeah. But… what about after a few days?"

"I ordered your ass some hypnocil, Fairy. Probably should have done that before, but… Better late than never, right?"

Hypnocil. Of course. How had she never actually thought of that?

"Good point. So…" She glanced at the television, where the ponies were singing about friendship. "Wanna put something else on?"

"God, I was hoping you'd ask."

* * *

Faye wasn't sure when she dozed off, but she found herself sitting in a much too small desk in an old school. Half of the walls were covered in yellowed and torn pages with children's scribbles all over them.

Fuck. She hadn't been holding onto the holy water, and that meant… That meant all she had was her necklace.

She took a deep breath and got up, slipping out of the sea and heading to the door. This was the school, which meant… This was the clone. The other one, not the familiar one. She had to get out of there- better the devil you knew, right? She had experience with the other one, the one with the house on Elm Street.

She reached for the door handle and the metal melted and wrapped around her hand, digging into the injured flesh. She screamed and tried to yank it away, succeeding only because the bandage slipped away. Her hand oozed blood and she wrapped in her shirt.

Two shirts ruined, thanks to one damn wound, and-

The door swung open and Freddy- the uglier one- appeared in the doorway. She took a step back and narrowed her eyes for just a moment before trying to figure out a way out of the room. There was the one door, and the windows.

Windows it was.

"Now, there's no need for the harsh look," he muttered, a small sadistic smirk spreading on his face. "I haven't even put a hand on you. Yet."

She stepped back, and he stepped forward, reaching out a gloved hand towards her. The grin widened. He thought he had her corned. He thought that she would try and run around him, towards the door.

She took a step forward and he darted to the side- the distraction lasted long enough for her to spin on her foot and launch herself at the window. It shattered under her easily and she landed-

Not on snow and glass. She landed hard on wooden floor. It was the living room of a very familiar house. And standing to the side, staring down at her, was the _familiar_ Freddy Krueger.

It would have been easy for him to kill her in that moment, but instead he waved a hand and suddenly she was sitting in a chair. She expected straps to appear and strap her down, but… she was free to get up, if she wanted, and that confused her more than anything.

"What the- what the actual fuck is going on?"

"Glad you asked."

He sat down across from her and grinned, flashing a mouthful of rotten teeth.

"Don't get my wrong, I'd be glad to kill ya right now, but… If I do that, I'll be waiting for ages for someone to take out that copy-cat. He's-"

"Another you who seems to have a school at his side of the dream realm," she stated, sitting up slightly in her chair. All she had needed to know was that he wasn't going to kill her immediately. Now- now she wanted answers. "I guess- he probably died there, or he did his… child murdery shit there. But how the hell are there two of you?"

"Fucking beats me! That's about right, though. Usually I hate the smart ones, but ya know, the less I gotta explain, the better."

There was something amazingly surreal about sitting across from someone who had tried to kill you before and having a civil conversation.

"Right. Well, that doesn't matter. What do you expect me to do about this?"

He leaned forward in his seat and grinned. His breath smelled like milk that was about a month past its expiration date.

"Here's the plan. You drag him out of my dream world and kill him in the real world."

"..." Alright, so original plan. Pity she didn't have enough time to actually set up any traps, Nancy style.

"I can tell you're thinking about that skunk stripe bitch- knock it off."

"Fine." She shrugged and folded her arms. "But there's just a little problem with that, which is that whole supernatural serial killers are incredibly hard to keep dead thing. And also, I assume that my end of this deal is something like you won't kill me? Or any of my friends?"

He raised a nonexistent eyebrow at her.

"... At least until after we take care of the other one?"

" _That_ I can do."

It wasn't ideal, but if was all Faye could manage, than she would take it. "But there's still that issue."

"Nah, it ain't an issue here. I did a couple of favors for Pinhead-" He watched as she shuddered at that particular memory and chuckled to himself. "What, you summoned those guys?"

"... On accident."

And _that_ got the dream demon to bust out in full laughter.

"You don't summon Hell's favorite sadomasochists on accident, girlie. Anyway, they're gonna keep that fuck up down in hell, so that the best dream demon gets to be the _only_ one. And hey, if do me a favor and off him, that'll be one less thing for _you_ to deal with."

She hated to admit he had a point. Still, she leaned against the chair and nodded. "So… I go back to the school and take him on there, than? Great. I don't suppose you could wake me up so I can get some supplies first?"

In answer, the chair tipped backwards, and she fell into the snow.

What an asshole.

* * *

Faye was asleep, and she wasn't waking up.

B had tried everything short of actually slapping the other girl, but she wasn't waking up. The only thing that was left to do was try and join her friend with the holy water. Sure, she could _try_ and go find his body, but how well had that really worked?

No. Better to take it directly to the source.

She sat down next to her friend on the couch and hesitated. She needed a way directly into the dream world, and while she both believed in and was at least somewhat afraid of Freddy, she was awful with getting to sleep.

She lifted the other girl's legs and tucked herself under them. Physical contact might help. After all, holding onto Freddy was all it too to drag him out, so maybe it would… drag her in?

She only had _ideas._ Not actual plans. Still, once she got into the dream, it would be fine.

B leaned back against the couch and shut her eyes. She was tired- but she was always tired, one of the many unfortunate side effects of her depression manifesting as insomnia, among… other things. She couldn't just will herself to sleep- she had tried!

A cool breeze on her face made her flinch. Damnit. In hindsight, closing the window would have been a good thing to do before she tried to rest. She opened her eyes and…

Two things stood out to her.

First was the snow.

The second was that everything looked so big. She knew for a fact that she was dreaming, and she clutched the jar of holy water to her chest tightly. Her bare feet stung on the cold ground, and she couldn't- she couldn't remember, but there was something important that she had to do.

She looked down at herself- she wasn't just small. She was younger. She was three years old. The strong sensation of deja vu spread through her body. _Calm down_ , she scolded herself. _This might seem real but it's only a dream, got it? Only a dream. A dream where you can be hurt and killed, but… a dream._ Unsurprisingly, that did little to comfort her. She swallowed a nervous knot in her throat started walking. She had to find- Faye! She had to find Faye!

A squeal of tires made her pause for a heartbeat, before she took off, little legs moving as best they could to carry her away. Away from the bad memory, away from the bad dream, away from the arms that caught her tiny little body and tossed her into the back of the car, the jar shattering under her.

The door closed behind her even as she grabbed for the handle of the other one and tried frantically to open it, ignoring the bleeding wounds and the glass embedded in her skin. It didn't matter. She knew it wouldn't open. She knew that it would be locked and this time, there was nobody there to stop the car and get her back out. She pressed her face against the car window.

The drive seemed impossibly long, but she knew that it was just because it was dream logic. She knew it would end soon, but she didn't know what would happen when it did.

Eventually the car stopped, and the arms wrapped around her again, pressing the glass even deeper. She refused to cry out, though, and kicked and clawed the entire way those arm carried her to a… log of wood?

"What are you," squeaked out of her little child mouth, "a fucking Saturday morning cartoon villain?"

The man holding her only laughed and slammed her onto the wood, quickly tying her into place. "Such language. We can't have that, now can we?"

And suddenly, a bar of soap was crammed in her mouth. She glared, but it didn't have the same effect from someone with the body of a three year old that it would when she was a teenager.

The log started moving, and the whirring alone told her exactly it was. She had to figure out a way to get out of there, before she got sliced up.

* * *

Faye had broken one of the legs off the chair, and now she was dragging it through the snow, trying to figure out how to start. Grab the other Freddy and than just, what? Bite her hand again?

Crap. She didn't know. In the dream realm, you didn't find Freddy- he found you. Maybe if she just tried to look as pathetic of a target as she could, he would target her? Or maybe…

Maybe she should just follow the loud shrieking?

The only reason she didn't run to it immediatly was because she knew in a moment that it wasn't human. It was too high pitched, too mechanical. It had to be a machine. That didn't mean that it wasn't a trap, but what other place could she look?

Snow crunched under foot as she made her way to the building, shoved it opened, and peered in.

The moment she recognized a child tied to a log, she ran forward. She was shocked to see two familiar and distinctly different colored eyes staring up at her.

"B- What are you-?" The question could wait. She ran to the end of the machine and hit an emergency override. It was strange to see one in the dream realm, before she realized-

Old Freddy must have put that one there.

Once the saw was off, she moved and grabbed the soap from her friend's mouth.

"Thanks, Fairy. I came to help out. It hasn't been my _best_ effort."

"I'm glad to see you anyway, though you look… shorter than I remember." She dug her nails into the rope to pick apart the knot, until the binding was loosened enough for B to slip through.

It was only once her friend straightened up with blood dripping down that Faye realized she was hurt. Dammit- this was her fault. If she had just been a bit more careful…

"Okay. I need you to wake up now."

"What? Fuck that- I'm here to help you!"

"Right. And the best way you can do that is by waking up, and…" What would B be able to find? "Get a knife, one of my bats, anything."

"Are we gonna kill Freddy?"

"..." Faye stared at her for a moment. "Okay, your excited murderface works on grown up you. On kid you, it just looks… Kind of adorable?"

B folded her tiny arms and huffed. "Alright, so I gotta wake up. Can you just like… give me a smack? I know I look and sound like a little kid, but remember, I'm not."

Faye lifted a hand, but hesitated and dropped it. "I… can't slap you. I'm sorry, I can't."

"Come ooooooon, Fairy. I can take a smack!"

She stepped forward. Okay, she could do this. It was just to wake up her friend, who she reminded herself, was not actually three years old. She could do this. She could _do_ this.

Faye couldn't do this, B thought, watching her friend try to build the courage. She sighed and shook her tiny three year old head. It was much easier for her to to just stretch her hand and slap herself across the face.

Her eyes flew open and she looked down at her hands. Sweet, sweet teenager sized hands. Whatever thing Freddy had done to her in the dream world had only lasted until she woke up. The jar of holy water lay in shards under her hand, though, and she had to be careful to retract her arm without cutting it up. She didn't know how long she had before she had to be ready with something to kill the demon, so she had to hurry.

She carefully lifted Faye's feet off her lap, placing them back down on the couch once she was free, before heading to the kitchen. Time to go and get something nice and _sharp_ to give Freddy a taste of his own medicine.

* * *

B was gone. Good. If she knew her friend (and she did), the other would be awake and ready to handle Freddy when she dragged him out.

She looked around the mill, and took a deep breath to prepare herself. If this Freddy was anything like the old version, than he probably wouldn't respond kindly to taunts, which was… Exactly what she needed.

"Hey, Freddy," she called, letting the word trail off her tongue in a taunting tone. "And I mean you, extra crispy. Where'd you run off too? Why don't you stop hiding behind that school? You want me? Come and fucking _get_ me."

She felt at the moment she should move, _right then,_ and she stepped to the left, quickly- just in time to dodge a swipe from the four bladed glove. She spun around on her left foot to face him- he _was_ the new one, which gave her all the motivation she needed.

Instead of trying to run, she kicked him in the crotch, as hard as she could. It worked just as well as it would on any other guy- his knees buckled under him, and she took that opportunity to grab a handful of sweater and hold on tightly as she lifted her hand up to her mouth and bit down again.

Before she could register that she was awake, she was rolled off the couch. She landed her on her back, and the dream demon landed on top of her. He wrapped his nongloved hand around her throat to pin her down, eyes trailing over her in a fashion that sent chills down her spine. A small smile curled at his lips and-

It barely had time to change when B sank the knife into the back of his neck and tore it out, to the side. Even if he didn't die immediately, all the strength his limbs was cut off, and he collapsed- right onto her.

"B. Get him off. Get him off me _right now."_

Her friend grabbed the body and hoisted it away, rolling it over and dropping the knife, before grabbed her hand and hoisting her to her feet.

"Are you okay?"

She hesitated, before nodding. She was fine. Mostly unhurt, save for the fresh bleeding from her hand.

"What about you?"

B turned to show several cuts along her back, blood slowly dripping out of them. "Still got these. I think they're still pretty small, though." She glanced over her shoulder and offered a thumbs up. "Other than those, I'm good."

"... We're getting too good at this," she muttered, shaking her head. "But… what are we supposed to do with him?"

Faye glanced at him and shook her head. "I… I don't know. Let's get you cleaned up and than we can deal with it. My parents aren't due home for at least another hour, so we can deal with this later. We'll… figure something out."

She led the way to her bathroom, where she dug out the first aid supplies- bandages, antibiotic ointment- and a clean wash rag to wipe the blood away.

"Here, give those to me," B muttered. "I can take care of them."

"... B, they're mostly on your back. I can get those fixed up for you." She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Since when are you shy?"

"I'm not, I just-" She huffed and lifted the back of her shirt over her head.

The two were silent while Faye worked, carefully pulling glass, cleaning the wounds. Only a couple of them seemed serious, and Faye took extra care with this. They were the kind of things that butterfly bandages were supposed to be used on, right? Yeah.

The one benefit about all this was that she was getting faster with cleaning and sticking bandages on people. Not to mention that girl from class was going to teach her a few things too. … What was that strange feeling bubbling up in her chest? It felt sort of bright and cheery. Was that optimism?

"Alright. You're done," she stated, helping the other pull her shirt back down. The dark fabric hid most of the bloodstains so well that even though she knew where they were it was still hard for her to spot them. With that done, they headed back downstairs.

The body was gone.


	12. A Few Polite Party Games

Chapter Twelve: A Few Polite Party Games

Faye sat in one of the rarely used chairs around the dining room table, meeting the gazes of her parents over a plate of fried eggs, toast, and sausage links. None of the plates had yet been touched, although her mother was occasionally taking sips of her coffee as the seconds slowly ticked away. She recognized those looks. They were the same worry concealed under forced neutral expressions that they had worn when they told her about her grandfather dying.

They hadn't spoken beyond asking her to eat breakfast with them, which sent red flags up immediately. They weren't a family that did home cooked breakfasts together. This was a Trojan Breakfast.

The real question was simple: Should she eat it and accept the conversation, or mention that she was going to be late for school and should get going.

… In the end, hunger made her decision for her, and she started to cut up the lukewarm sausage and stab into the egg. This conversation was going to happen, it might as well happen over food.

"So, sweetie…"

Faye looked up and raised an eyebrow. Her mouth was too full to respond. Damn. She played right into their hands even more then she'd expected too.

She swallowed the mouthful of toast with a gulp of milk and nodded. "Yes?"

"We've noticed… a few things that have us worried," Her mother continued. "Like… missing medical supplies."

"Calls from your school," her father cut in.

"Right, and… you've seemed very withdrawn, lately. So, your father and I have decided-"

* * *

"They're sending me to therapy."

"Eh. Therapy isn't too bad."

Instead of heading home, Faye was walking to the mental health clinic that, starting today, she was going to be a patient of. It wasn't all that far from school, so she was traveling by foot. B was with her, looming over her with that extra foot or so of height.

"Maybe not, but you can at least tell yours about your issues. Having a dickish stepparent is probably something they learn about in psychology classes. What am I supposed to say? 'Hey doc, well, wouldn't you know it, I keep getting attacked by horror movie characters. What's that about family histories-'"

She got a light punch on the shoulder for her trouble. "Just… Tell them shit that's half true. Feed whoever it is the same stuff we've told everyone else about shit, bring up those bitches bullying you and you should be good to go. Remember that- I'm not going to be able to go in with you, so you can't rely on my expertise here."

"You make it sound easy…"

But her friend had a point. She couldn't very well tell the truth, so she would have to lie. She could do this.

It was easy enough to walk in and get checked in, and she was immediately directed to a computer.

 _In the past few weeks,_ it read, _have you:_

 _Had little interest or pleasure in doing things_

 _Not at all_

 _Several days_

 _More than half the days_

 _Nearly Every Day_

She studied the list of questions, rubbing her eyes. There were so many, asking about how she'd been sleeping, how she'd been eating, how she felt. She tried to answer them as honestly as possible, though… It didn't hit her until she was filling in the little bubbles that each of them hit either 'More than half the days" or 'Nearly every day'. She hit submit and- Wait, there was more?

 _Do you experience strong fear that causes panic, shortness of breath, chest pains, a pounding heart, sweating, shaking, nausea, dizziness, and/or fear of dying?_

The rest of the questions weren't much, but this? Something about the fear of dying made her break out into quiet laughter. The attends shot her worried looks as she lifted a hand to her mouth to try and stifle the sound.

Fear of _dying,_ huh? If only they knew.

She submitted the last answer and headed into the waiting room and pulled out her phone.

 _Hey B,_ she typed out quickly, _I made it through the tests. Went ahead and answered honestly on those._

 _No reason to lie there._ The reply was short and to the point, as expected with B. She sighed and put her phone leaning back into the chair. It wasn't that busy, but it still felt like an hour passed before one of the secretaries appeared to lead her to the room. Everything was going well.

Right up until she walked into the room.

She recognized the figure sitting across from- recognized the somewhat balding hair, that smile that said he'd had you figured out before you even realized just _how_ dangerous this was.

Hannibal Lecter.

She slipped her phone out of her pocket and held down the number tied to B's phone, behind her back. Thank god for speed dial. The man's face became just a touch more… Something. She couldn't really read that face.

"Ahh- Is something the matter, Fayora?"

"N-no, nothing's the matter," she lied. "Just… I didn't really want to be here in the first place. Kind of annoyed I got dragged into doing this. My parents made me be here, I mean."

The expression on his face hardly changed. He made a slight gesture to the seat across from him.

"Well, that's a good of a place to start as any. Have a seat, if you'd like. Or, if you'd be more comfortable standing…"

She took a deep breath and sat at the edge of the chair, setting the phone down behind her. If B had answered, she'd be hearing this too. Hopefully she'd find the voice familiar and figure out _some_ way to help.

"Ah… They think something's wrong with me. I think they might even think I'm hurting myself."

"Are you?"

"No!" She shook her head, but… the half healed bite marks on the webbing between her thumb and finger caught her eye. "... Mostly, no. Not unless I have to."

His eyes had followed hers to her hand, but he was looking at her once again. His face was still very hard to read for her. She should have paid more attention to his movies, but Dr. Lecter had always been more B's style. She wasn't great at the deep psychoanalyzing stuff.

"Unless you have to? When do you _have_ to hurt yourself?"

She tried to consider if she could lie her way out of this, but a thought popped into her mind. This was _not_ an ordinary therapist. This was Dr. Lecter. He was just as much a horror icon as Freddy or Jason, wasn't he? He might even believe they existed. And if he did… this might not be as worthless as it seemed at first.

If there was any chance of actually being able to talk this out, he was it. As dangerous as he was, he was probably the only therapist she would be able to tell the truth too.

"... I'm not entirely sure you'll believe me," she finally stated. "But… you're probably the only therapist who _would_ believe me. I'm going to try and tell the truth. Please believe me."

She could read his expression now. A slightly raised eyebrow, the slight upturn of a smile. He was interested. Hopefully for her, that was a good thing.

"It wouldn't be prudent of you to lie, Ms. Christoph." He said her name as if it were familiar, and that sent chills up her spine. This might have been a mistake.

"... Alright. Well, the only reason I did this was to get out of a nightmare. Have you ever heard of Freddy Krueger?"

He was already opening his mouth to answer when a sudden blaring noise sounded. Her hands flew to her ears and clamped down as a bright light joined it. The fire alarm continue blaring as she grabbed her phone and stood up to go-

A hand wrapped around her wrist.

"I will be seeing you next week, correct? I do want to hear the rest of this. Though… perhaps next time you can avoid sending a distress signal to your friend?"

"... Well, your reputation is… well earned. I'll finish the story next time." She doubted her parents would let her get of this so easily.

He studied her for a few seconds before freeing her hand and nodding. "Excellent. Better to get out of here sooner, rather than later. There are going to be some very angry firemen here."

She could take a hint. Get B and leave _before_ those people got there.

He didn't have to tell her twice.

* * *

Therapy with Dr. Lecter wasn't as bad as she anticipated. He spent a lot of time listening as she described the various encounters, usually only speaking to ask her to elaborate on one thing or another, or to explain why she acted in certain ways. When she finally finished, ending on one of the most unbelievable of the tales, he simply nodded.

"I believe you, first of all. Secondly… has anyone else in your family ever discussed anything like this with you?"

"Huh? No. I mean, I tried to tell them about the first time, but it was… pretty clear they didn't believe me."

He had a thoughtful look, but he didn't elaborate, instead changing the subject. "Given what you've told me… It would be best to continue these sessions to help cope with these events. They've clearly been quite traumatic, and if they don't seem to be stopping, you need to have a support system."

"... I do. I have a friend who's been helping me."

"Yes. Your friend… 'B', correct?"

"Uh-hu. She's been a big help with this stuff. She's always been even more into horror than I was, so she's basically a walking encyclopedia on all things… scary. Plus, I think this stuff has been a bit more exciting to her than scary."

"It seems like its good for you to have her, than. For the time being, we're going to continue these sessions, and I will be keeping an eye on you, though… we're running short on time."

She nodded, but… hesitated before leaving. There was one thing she wanted to ask, but it might be taken as rude- and you _never_ wanted to be taken as rude when it came to-

"And no, I have no intentions of eating you. You're too… interesting." It was freaky, but she just reminded herself that he definitely couldn't read minds, however much he could act like it. It was a pretty obvious thought to have.

"I appreciate the reassurance." She offered a small smile. "Getting eaten would definitely put a downer on things."

* * *

As disappointing as it was that B wasn't around to walk her home, she did take advantage of the relative quiet to consider a few things.

She was glad that things had been fairly calm for the past few weeks. Any moment of peace was slowly becoming more of a treasure these days.

Assuming Lecter was honest- and he didn't seem like the type to directly lie in order to 'win' a game- it seemed like she'd gotten lucky to get him as a therapist. And there she thought she'd been running low on luck. Hell, she still might be, but at least this was something better than having to lie her ass off for an hour every week. It was much better this way, wasn't it? She was actually getting some help.

Stepping up to her door, she made a mental note to thank her parents. It might actually help prove she was getting better. She swung open the door, and-

"SURPRISE!"

Very nearly had a heart attack.

B looped an arm around her, grinning and pulling her into her house. Her parents were there and so was Alex. She tried to put everything together in her head as she took in a cake with two numbers candles- a one and a six- and the pile of surprisingly well wrapped presents.

"I-" It was… her birthday. She'd forgotten her own birthday. Tears welled up in her eyes as smiled at the small group. No wonder B had claimed she was busy after school. "Thank you all- I… Heh. How long have you been planning this?"

"A couple of weeks," her dad admitted. "Come on now, blow up the candles."

Faye stepped forward and blew out the candles quickly, making a wish (strictly in her head) to have… a less exciting year, this time around. She didn't expect it to come true, but there was no harm in wishing, right?

The party was a bit rushed. They only played a quick card game before the presents were pushed at her, and she had to admit that she was… a bit confused by some of them. The first was a rectangular box with nothing in it. The second was a bunch of mouse plushies that were really tiny, for someone like her. At the third wrapped present, which seemed to be a small cushiony bed of some sort, an idea was forming. She didn't want to hope too much, but-

"Alright, close your eyes." Her mom gave her a cheerful grin, and she quickly obeyed.

Someone carefully grabbed her hands and pulled them out a bit, before something small, warm, and soft was placed in her hands. She opened her eyes immediately to see a dark grey ball of fluff with wide greens eyes, who let out a tiny mew at her.

She almost immediately burst into tears and very gently hugged the tiny creature, who just wiggled and mewed again.

"I thought you might like her," B stated, half shrugging. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she added, "plus, you know animals have some kind of weird immunity to horror stuff. She'll be fine."

Faye laughed through the tears and reached up to wipe them away. "You and my parents were really working together on this? _Really?_ "

"Hey," Alex protested, "I helped too. No offence Mrs. and Mr. Christoph, but nobody else in this house can wrap a gift to save their lives."

"And no 'no offence' to me?"

"Full offence B, but-"

He got an eyeroll for his trouble, but Faye couldn't help but laugh. This bit of a break was _exactly_ what she needed. She wiped her eyes and looked up at the faces of her family and friends and-

"... Wait, I-" There was one last present, a bit bigger than the rest, tucked under the table. "What's this one?"

"Beats me. That was here when I got here." Alex shrugged as she grabbed the present and yanked it out from under the table. Underneath the wrapping paper was a plain brown box, and a small piece of paper folded in half.

She opened it and read to herself.

" _F,_

 _Your parents have been catching me up about a lot of things. I wanted to tell you that you're not alone. Open this upstairs, away from them. They'll never understand completely. Write me back at the address in the box and mail it no later than a week from today._

 _-Aunt S"_

"Ah- Who's my… aunt 'S'?" She glanced up at her parents. "She said this is from my aunt S."

"My sister," her mother stated. "She's just gotten back in touch with us, but it's been… a bit delicate. She's never been one to stick around much. Are you going to open that?"

"Oh," Faye shrugged, "I thought I'd open it upstairs. Apparently it's just some clothes and stuff, so it'll be easier to have it in my room."

* * *

She hadn't been sure what to expect from the box, but she had found… A lot.

The biggest item was a backpack that, upon further investigation, was full. She dumped it out and sorted through the contents, realizing that it was some kind of… survival backpack?

There were food ration bars, cardboard containers of drinking water, and some napkins. That was just the start. She found a compass hidden in a pocket, an emergency whistle with a string on it for wearing, and… some weird foil looking blanket? There about four different ways to start fires- a lighter, a magnesium fire starter, matcher, and even a live emergency fire starter. She had no idea how to use that last one.

Rooting through the supplies some more, she found a multi tool, some duct tape, earplugs, a pad of paper and some cheap pens, water purification tablets, and chemical light sticks. There was a flashlight, some paracord, zip ties- even an entire tube tent and a sleeping bag. She found a poncho folded up pretty well, a mirror for… some reason? Batteries, work gloves, goggles- even a respirator mask. The best find in the bag, though? That was a compact first aid kit. She could rely on it for a while instead of stealing from the family stock.

She tucked it in a corner, still… marvelling over just how much stuff there was. She could survive just about anything with that.

Still- there was more stuff in the box. A cross, a bottle of holy water, and a huge thing of caffeine pills which would have been useful a few weeks ago. There was a knife, which a label explaining that it was coated in silver, and another made of iron- for werewolves? And fae?

Finally, there was a handwritten book stapled together. A quick flip through it reveal information- everything ranging from how to use the medical equipment to tips and methods on how to escape serial killers. Not just any serial killers, either.

Freddy. Jason. Pinhead. Ones she had met, and ones she hadn't yet. The first page, however, was a letter.

" _F,_

 _This is the best I could arrange on such short notice. I'll try and meet up with you soon, but I have some loose ends I need to take care of first. If you've managed to stay alive so far, this should keep you going until I can get there._

 _Stay strong. Stay smart. You aren't alone in this, not by a long shot. I'm sorry I can't explain more, but I have to work quickly. You'll find an envelope with an address written on it. Again, I'll only be in this area for a little while, so don't waste time._

 _-S"_

… She had no idea who her aunt was, but she was certain about one thing.

Her birthday wish was _not_ going to come true.

* * *

She needed time to think about this- about everything. Once everybody left she grabbed some of her new items, packed up her bag, and quietly crept out of the house, making sure to lock the door behind her.

Faye didn't really know where she was walking too, just that she wanted to get out and get some fresh air. Things would probably be calm for a couple more days, at least. They usually fluctuated like that.

She walked until she started to recognize the area. Her eyes scanned the wall until she found it- A door set into the wall, one that looked more like a painting than a door. She walked up to it and gave the door a little shove. The bell jingled cheerfully as she stepped in.

The place looked the same as she remembered it. There were a few new games, but other than that, it was pretty much identical. There was a strange and warm sort of atmosphere that comforted her. She shifted her backpack and-

"Hello. … You don't need the mirror again, do you?"

She turned to find the pale white haired boy staring at her. She laughed and shook her head.

"No, no mirrors this time. I just… accidentally found my way back here. I needed some fresh air. And I think I still owe you an explanation, don't I?"

"Hm. I think you do, yes." He stood from his seat behind the counter and started to carefully move board games off of some chairs at a chess board. She sat down at the side with the pristine quartz pieces, while the other sat across from at some shiny obsidian pieces. "So… The mirror thing. I don't think many people try _summoning_ mirror spirits to deal with their issues."

She laughed a bit sheepishly. "Yeah. Well… Ah, I've talked to Mary before. She's actually really nice, as long as you don't waste her time. And it's not that hard to just talk to her every now and then. The, uh… killer robot is a bit harder to explain, on the other hand."

"Heh. It doesn't seem like a problem most people have to deal with. But… you handled it really well. Does that happen often?"

"You'd be surprised." She hesitated, for a moment. "... You're believing me a lot easier than I figured you would."

"That does happen when you see something getting forcibly dragged through a mirror. I'm just going to assume that whatever you tell me is true." He raised an eyebrow. "How'd you expect me to act?"

"... Denial." She picked up a chess piece- one of the pawns- and turned it over in her hands. It was heavier than she thought it would be. "Wouldn't be the first time someone saw something and pretend it never existed. A lot of people do that."

"Those people… The kind that never learn." He seemed to smile at the pawn in her hand, and nodded towards it. "Do you play?"

"Huh? Oh- No. I never actually learned. The most I know is, uh… These guys move one square at a time? And there's one that makes an L shape."

His expression in that moment was difficult to read, but if she had to assign any meaning to it, she would probably guess it was a cross between disappointed and fascinated.

"I could teach you, if you wanted. Unless you need to get home…?"

Faye hesitated. On one hand she probably _did_ need to go and get back home before her little escapade was discovered. On the other… there was something very tempting about the smug smile currently resting on his face- almost as though he were challenging her to stay and try and test her hardly existent skills against him.

"... Maybe the basics? And I'll have to get home after that."

The smug expression only increased, as though he had won already, somehow. "Excellent. Now, to begin, that piece you're holding is called a pawn…"

* * *

By the time she got home and slipped into her room, her head was swimming with chess terms, and a small box was tucked under her arm. Between the lesson and an off hand mention of it being her birthday, he'd found a much cheaper chess set- little plastic pieces, a fold out piece of cardboard.

It had been a relaxing walk- exactly what she needed to clear her head.

She set the game up on a rarely used side table. Samir- she'd managed to get his name somewhere between him explaining rooks and bishops- had given her a few tips about how to practice. It had been… nice. Normal, even.

Her eyes landed on the supply backpack in the corner, and she was reminded there wasn't really anything _normal_ about her life. … That was fine, though. That was… just fine.


End file.
